Pokemon: Inception
by 122 Generation
Summary: Within the complex depths of the subconscious, Wes has a chance to finally being able to return home by performing the impossible: inception. In this life-threatening task diving into the depths of dreams, and despite valuable support from friends, he could succeed... if only he knew his true enemy was already there. Features Steven/Cynthia. Rated T for intense complexity.
1. On the Shores of Imagination

**I don't own Pokemon, or this story would have become a reality. Credit for the storyline goes to Christopher Nolan for the production of 'Inception'.**

* * *

_**Prologue**_

There wasn't really much to see in the wild crashing ocean. It was just not the type to get caught into. Contradictory to that, there was a massive desert island in the middle of the ocean, and on that island was a pretty big building. It had a sinister appearance with a label outside reading a large 'G'. What was it for?

Among the waves there lay a Pokémon Trainer who washed on the shore. He was completely exhausted, like he wanted to lie down there... forever...

The Trainer was dressed in a blue coat. He had eye protection for use in the desert and on his arm was equipped with the infamous Snag Machine. Perhaps now was the time to use it. But how could he? He didn't have the strength...

The Trainer looked up and saw the shape of a building in front of him... and near the beachhead was a girl with red hair tied back into two ponytails. She looked at him and gave a small wave and then she turned away and ran. He knew who she was, but he didn't have the strength to rise. Thinking of her, he slipped away into unconsciousness...

A Team Galactic grunt saw the Trainer. The grunt got closer and examined the Trainer. He found that the Trainer had two Poké Balls with him and a blue coat, but when he saw the Snag Machine, he called out for other Grunts to bring him away.

* * *

Inside the Galactic building, the Galactic commander Cyrus was looking at a map of all possibilities of eliminating other Teams who might be competing with him including Team Plasma, the most recent.

With the present Team Galactic left to ruin by Charon, Cyrus might as well consider new options of another career...

"Master Cyrus?" a grunt came into the room. "We found a Pokémon Trainer outside the building. He was wearing this..." the grunt placed the Snag Machine on the table. "This..." and he placed two Poké Balls. "This," the grunt placed a PDA on the table. Cyrus walked to pick it up and examine it. He showed no expression whatsoever and turned back to his map, but the grunt wasn't finished, "And this," the grunt finished by placing a book on the table.

Cyrus paused. He touched the book gently and said to the grunt. "Show him in," and then he sat down on a chair.

Two grunts came and dragged the limping Trainer onto the chair. He had sand-colored hair with a dark tone and his eyes were golden yellow. A streak of white paint stretched over his face that fit his eyeglasses.

"Who are you?" Cyrus demanded. "You don't need to say that... I've seen this book before..." he held up the book. "A man I've met years ago carried this book within dreams. In fact, I've seen this once within my own dreams..." Cyrus opened the book, the pages were not made out of paper, but they were rather electronic graphs and grids. "I remember a very long time ago that when he opened it, he had a small item of some sort and he spun it on a centre square. I don't know how much it meant to him…"

Cyrus stared off into space, trying to retrace memories of what had occurred before.

The Pokémon Trainer looked at Cyrus in the eye, lost for words.

* * *

_**Chapter one**_

"Tell me, Cyrus, how much do you suppose an idea can do? Get it?" said the Pokémon Trainer, who was now dressed in a blue suit and tie, minus the jacket.

A Pokémon Ranger was now present with the Trainer, "Uh... Mr. Cyrus? Wes here is or is trying to explain is that–"

"An idea," Wes cut in. "Is where it's taken a grasp in your mind. Once it's in there elimination is practically futile. It's there. No matter how hard you try. Right, Kellyn?"

"Exactly," Kellyn nodded. "The amount of impact an idea can do to your mind is unimaginable, or at least something secret. There will be times when that idea or secret will be lodged inside somewhere in at that point." Kellyn tapped his head.

"And... while you're sleeping," Wes explained. "You're mind's defenses are reduced to a smaller scale because it's weaker. That's when you're exposed to an unsuspected theft within your subconscious. It's called extraction."

"Mr. Cyrus. We can prepare your subconscious to mount defenses that can stop extractors from stealing your secrets so that your mind's always safe no matter what."

"Do you think it's possible?" Cyrus glanced.

"It's been done before," Wes nodded slightly.

Cyrus got up. "Have a pleasant day, you two, while I reason with your offer."

As Cyrus left the room, Kellyn looked at Wes. "We have to move."

Wes' face was slightly blank, after that he exited the room to the outside balcony where Kellyn joined him.

"The secrets are somewhere in the building not outside Cyrus looked at its location for a second. We need to know where it is," Wes said. "It's definitely upstairs."

Kellyn looked up. "We'll need our Pokémon to help us here," he directed to his side. "Pachirisu! We'll need help here!"

"Pachi?" squeaked Kellyn's electric-squirrel, and leapt on Kellyn's shoulder.

"Good idea," said Wes. He took out his two Poké Balls and called. "Espeon! Umbreon! Go!"

The two Pokémon burst out of Wes' Poké Balls, one was a Psychic type and the other a Dark type.

"Stay together and look for that safe," Wes instructed.

They nodded and divided up. Wes looked to the right of the balcony and there was the red haired girl from earlier. It was –

"Rui?" Wes whispered. He turned to Kellyn. "Give me a minute."

"Okay... but be quick! We can't waste too much time!" Kellyn loaded up his Vatonage Capture Styler and looked around carefully.

A big tremor shook the island. _What's going on right now?_ He thought.

* * *

In a hidden cave, the Pokémon Ranger Lunick heard explosions coming from outside. It was the sound of marching grunts from renegade squads armed with their Camerupts, using Earthquake and Eruption. Laid down in front of him were a sleeping Wes, Kellyn, and Cyrus. All with needles punctured into them for sedation, and where the needles led to, a case containing the sedative and Wes' Poké Balls. The Poké Balls were linked to Wes' sedative the same way as Kellyn's Pachirisu did. As Lunick looked outside, the Camerupts were about a kilometre away and were closing in on them. While he still had his Minun, along with Kellyn's Grotle and Kirlia, to guard them it wasn't enough to overpower the renegades' Pokémon nor was it a lot a lot of time...

* * *

Wes approached Rui. She said, "Long time no see, Wes!"

Wes' face was emotionless as usual, "Rui... what are you doing here?"

"We haven't seen each other for so long that I thought I might drop by."

"I'm still trying to see you for real."

"Really?" Rui brightened up. "That's great! When?"

Wes lowered his head, "When I find a way home... when Cipher stops convincing the Orre Region that I'm a criminal, I'll see you again."

"Yay!" Rui squeaked. "By the way, Gonzap's over there."

And there was Gonzap, the tough muscleman of the then-Team Snaggem, his eyes looking as evil as ever. "I'll come back for you, Rui. I promise," Wes said.

"Bye!" Rui waved.

Wes turned away from Rui. He knew that she was just a projection of his subconscious, but talking to Rui was just something he enjoyed, and it would be reality sometime.

Espeon and Umbreon led Wes around the building, sniffing around for Cyrus' secrets upstairs of the building. Room by room, Wes looked around each one for no more than a few seconds. He opened his book. Inside it were a few pages as thin as paper, but they were as tough as discs, each page showing a grid and a graph. If Kellyn had found the secrets he would have notified Wes through his book.

He saw more Galactic grunts with their Golbats. Wes commanded silently for Espeon to use her Psybeam on the Golbats and for Umbreon to stealthily assault and knock out the grunts. Since there were only three the attack was quick and easy.

In the third to last room of the corridor Wes perked inside, turned off the lights, and used Espeon's Psybeam attack to split open the walls easily. Suddenly, he found it: a safe with a lock on it. Ensuring that there was an alarm on it to prevent Pokémon from cracking it, Wes chose to quietly open the safe. 26... 16... 7... 39... 25... 6! He did it! Wes excitedly opened the safe and inside it were two black envelopes with the Team Galactic emblem. Wes took them, put them in his suit, and prepared duds...

TAP.

Wes jerked behind him. The lights were on now. At the doorway was Cyrus, accompanied with a Granados, "Turn around!" Cyrus barked.

"What do you want, Cyrus?" asked Wes.

"That depends... on what do you want?" Cyrus snapped his fingers.

Behind Cyrus, Wes gulped, was Gonzap and two grunts. One grunt was dragging the limping body of Kellyn, the other dragged Kellyn's Pachirisu.

"Charizard!" Gonzap growled and hurled a Poké Ball, out it came. It took its aim to Kellyn, who was forced to stand up.

"Turn over the plans, Wes," Cyrus demanded.

Wes ignored him and looked at Gonzap, "There's nothing you can do to kill him. You know that? No point killing him either."

"Whatever you say, Wes, whatever you say," Gonzap snarled. "I've still got Snagem grunts looking around for your friends and as for Kellyn... I know what you're saying. Killing him would just rouse and awaken him. But there's more and Cipher can do than just that... Charizard! Dragon Claw!"

The Charizard's claws flicked with a fiery flame, and slashed it with Kellyn's side.

"ARRRGGHH!" Kellyn screamed and fell on the floor. "ARHH! AH... AH..." Kellyn kept gasping for breath while he struggled to stop the bleeding.

"Physical and emotional pains are among some of the best I can describe, Wes. As I always say, it's all in your head. Based on the amount of ocean here, we're in your dream, aren't we Kellyn?"

Kellyn kept trying to gasp, he was dying...

Cyrus was getting impatient, "Turn over the plans, now!"

Wes reluctantly tossed the envelopes in the air and let Espeon float them away to Cyrus. But Wes had other plans...

"Umbreon! Now!" Wes shouted as he picked up Espeon and threw himself towards the door. Umbreon leapt toward Kellyn, used Faint Attack on his head, and rejoined Wes. Kellyn was knocked out instantly...

* * *

Kellyn and Pachirisu woke up in the cave with a start, where Lunick was looking at them with high concern.

"How'd it go? You do realise that there's a lot of time on the clock!" Lunick said while Kellyn was hastily removing his needle and Pachirisu'. Wes and his Pokémon were still sleeping.

"Very badly: the dream's collapsing."

"We better wake him up, they're getting closer."

Indeed, the renegades' Eruption attacks were closing in on the cave, including a Heat Wave attack from an airborne Ho-Oh! The heat brushed against Wes...

* * *

Immediately after Wes had attacked Kellyn, the ceiling fell to pieces. Large chunks of metal came crumbling down on top of Wes, but with quick reflexes he rolled aside and made a run for it.

Gonzap said to Cyrus, "At least you got your plans back."

Cyrus opened the envelope and looked at the papers, each of them were blank. He shrieked uncontrollably and yelled. "Seize him!"

Wes saw the building's walls melt away instantly. Even the floor was cracking apart, but he needed time to read Cyrus' secrets. With his Pokémon, he used Psybeam and Faint Attacks to make himself a clear path from the grunts.

However, he had limited time as the walls were turning into plasma. Molten metal began to fall with the chunks of metal that came crumbling down.

He turned to Espeon, "Psychic me up to that stone ledge, okay? Then you and Umbreon wake yourselves up, got it?"

Espeon and Umbreon nodded.

Umbreon blasted away a grunt and looked at his Trainer.

Wes made a leap in the air and gave Espeon a split second to react.

Espeon focussed her aim and airlifted Wes to the upper level. Then she and Umbreon dashed to the nearest balcony and leapt...

* * *

...and, like Kellyn, woke up with a start. Stretching themselves, they found themselves facing the two Pokémon Rangers.

"Is Wes alright?" Kellyn asked.

Umbreon shook his head.

"Wake him up," Lunick said with worry because the renegades were getting closer now, about half a kilometre.

Umbreon pushed Wes around, but it did no good. He was still sleeping. Kellyn shook his head, "We'll need something stronger than that, Umbreon."

The walls of the cave were starting to crack, Lunick tried to help Umbreon by shaking Wes' head but he still didn't wake up. He said, "It's no good, give him the kick."

"Let's do it," Kellyn agreed. "Espeon! Psychic!"

Espeon's eyes began to glow, and lifted Wes a few inches off the ground...

* * *

Wes opened the two envelopes and briefly looked at Cyrus' plans. One showed the ideas of forming a new Team Galactic, and the other maps of every other Team Galactic remnant. But there were a few more grunts and members of Team Snagem right across from his position. The grunts used several Seviper and fired away blasts of poison. The blasts made contact with Wes' neck.

"Agh!" Wes grunted. He forced himself to keep moving forward and kept reading the files.

* * *

Kellyn looked at Espeon, "Drop him."

Espeon did that.

Wes slowly fell to the ground…

* * *

Wes suddenly felt like sinking. The world was sinking. Everything was sinking. Like it was being thrown into a black hole...

_Oh, come on!_ Wes thought. He knew what was going on, and knew it wasn't preventable at all. The only thing remaining was falling down.

It looked like Cyrus, too, was falling away...

* * *

Wes woke up and used his hands to stop himself from hitting the ground. The cave was still in one piece, although there were larger cracks in the walls now.

"Kellyn? You there?" Wes looked around.

"I'm right here. Lunick's brought Cyrus to a deeper part of the cave," Kellyn said and guided Wes into the deeper cave. "We're running out of time, we'll need to make this quick," Kellyn elucidated and put his Pachirisu, Kirlia, and Grotle on guard.

Upon entering the cavern, Wes saw that Cyrus was already being interrogated by Lunick and Minun (who was trying to scare Cyrus by twirling around with small shocks).

"How did you know about this place? It's only me who knows about this place for Team Galactic. In Mount Moon..."

"Stop it," Lunick spat angrily. "We know that you've actually managed to elude a part of the idea somewhere, Wes, especially. Since that–"

"Wes already has the ideas, why bother, huh? Who employed you, Wes?" Cyrus looked around.

Kellyn stood to confront Cyrus, "Cyrus, our employer... we'll tell him what we found from you, and then we'll see what happens."

But Wes said, "Don't forget, Kellyn, that Cyrus still has authority with Team Galactic. Even so..." Wes faced Cyrus. "You got to tell us what else you're hiding."

* * *

Aboard a hi-speed train in the Kanto Region, the Trainer called Michael was watching Cyrus, Kellyn, Lunick, and several Pokémon sleeping in the compartment. He consulted his watch, the seconds hand was ten seconds away from approaching the half mark. Within those precious ten seconds Michael placed a pair of headphones on Lunick's ears. When the ten seconds had passed, Michael pressed the play button.

In Lunick's ears, the Pokémon main theme was playing...

Lunick heard the familiar tune and made eye contact with Wes, who glared.

Wes took the direct approach and knocked Cyrus to the ground, "WHAT'S LEFT OF TEAM GALACTIC THAT YOU KNOW OF! TELL US!"

Cyrus did nothing more than a chuckle, "You've played well, Wes. But I know this place much better than you do. You would have killed me now, but I know better..."

Kellyn looked at Wes, who was stunned.

"You're trying to get something out of me, and you seem very desperate. In that case, I know what's going on. Because of your haste, and that I'm still playing for time, we're still dreaming."

Cyrus got up, "A dream within a dream, huh, Wes? Impressive. Sadly, it wasn't impressive enough. Here in my dream, you obey the iron rule."

Kellyn raised his eyebrows, "Some iron rule you've got, Cyrus. But–"

"We're not in your dream," Wes finished for him.

Lunick looked up, "Cyrus; we're in mine."

In that split second after Lunick said those words the walls burst open with lava. The renegades and the Camerupt had gotten through and seized Lunick...

* * *

Michael consulted his watch with the sedative, the timer had hit zero.

An alarm began to sound from the case, Wes, the two Rangers, and all their Pokémon woke up from the dream.

"How'd it go?" Michael asked.

"We... half succeeded," Wes answered. "I'm getting off at Celadon."

Lunick handed Michael ten thousand Pokédollars and said, "Well I'm getting off at Saffron. ASAP. Minun, come with me."

Kellyn said, "Lunick, we should hide in another car." And he, Lunick, Pachirisu, Grotle, and Kirlia moved to another compartment.

"We'll rendezvous at Vermillion, okay guys?" said Wes.

And the threesome separated quickly in spite of all their Pokémon.

* * *

Cyrus woke up to find a young Pokémon Trainer sitting across him. But when he found a needle puncture in his wrist, he wondered what that was all about.


	2. The Totem and the Job

**To anyone concerned with reading this story any further: it's going to get really complicated.**

* * *

_**Chapter two**_

Wes was in a lone room in a commercial tower at Vermillion City. He sat down on the sofa and opened his blue GridBook.

The first page was a solid grid showing where he was between reality and dreams. Right now, his cursor was leveled at the top of the grid, which was reality. The lower part of the grid showed the levels of dreams, but of course only he could read his own GridBook.

The next page showed another grid which was meant to show the same dream levels as the first page, but this one was supposed to show his all his companion's locations. The reason why it didn't show his friends' GridBooks was because, and Wes knew this, that they all had to be sharing the same dream.

He turned to the next few pages, these ones showed several blanks. The point of these blanks was that no one, except for himself, could tell was written in the blanks. Once Wes entered a dream, the blank would automatically write itself with a general idea of the dream. If the pages were entirely blank, it would prove that Wes was in reality. If there was writing in it... Wes would be dreaming.

One thicker page showed a communications grid. Wes knew that he could talk with either Kellyn, Lunick, or to anyone once they were in the same dream provided that they were also holding their own GridBook. The way it worked was that the grid would project a screen which Wes could talk to anyone's Grid face-to-face. Like most pages in the GridBook, this page only worked within dreams.

The GridBook didn't show any maps, but Wes didn't really need them. Only one was required to teach the layout of the dream, but Wes hadn't acquired someone yet...

In the last page which was a grid with lots of spaces on it. To confirm that he really was in reality, Wes opened a tiny compartment. Inside was a metal jack, the piece often used to play a game of bouncing a ball and sweeping more jacks. Wes took it out delicately, placed the jack on the grid's center square, and spun it.

The jack spun on the grid in place. Wes placed his hands on a nearby knife while the jack continued to spin in place... spinning and spinning...

_Will it stop?_ Wes thought as the jack spun and spun on the grid.

Wes put his hand to the knife's handle, gripped onto it, and held his breath.

The jack started to tip, and then it fell over on its side, still leaving itself on the center square. Wes exhaled, picked up his jack, and put it back in the compartment.

Though it seemed that that was all in the GridBook, Wes split the back of his book in half and examined it. It showed a super thin white grid with a space just for a fingerprint. Wes never told this to anyone, not even Lunick or Kellyn, that the page had a capability of automatically sending everyone out of a dream into reality, even his own Pokémon. But the release came with a price: once Wes placed his fingerprint in there, Wes himself would plunge into the depths of dreams. Where he would be trapped in the dream forever...

Wes closed his GridBook, the next thing he wanted to do was take a look at an old photograph. It was when he had defeated Cipher years ago at Realgam Tower. The days when Rui was at his side...

_Will I ever see you again?_ Wes hid his emotions, but somehow he felt a sense of impossibility that enveloped his head. Since Cipher had banished him from Orre by manipulating the people that he was a criminal, it just wouldn't happen.

Wes' PDA sounded a ring tone, he took it out. An e-mail, probably from one of his friends at a nearby city, Nett, or...

Wes flicked open his e-mails. The message was titled 'Hi Wes! How're you doing?' He blinked. It was from Rui.

_Hi Wes!_

_You haven't come to Ore for a long time, not that I'm saying that it is your home. But I haven't seen you... never mind. By the way, when are you coming back to Ore?! I mean, Cipher couldn't have been that extreme to banish you from the region. But I'm telling you, I'm not leaving the region until you come back! Deal?_

_Love from Rui_

Wes looked over the message several more times, and then he typed in...

_Rui, I'm perfectly fine. I'll be back soon._

_Wes_

The message was shorter than he would have preferred, but it was enough. Though the message system Nett created was secure, Wes never was the type to talk too much.

Wes took one last look at his message, and pressed the 'send' button. After that he closed his PDA, took his GridBook, picked up his Poké Balls, and headed to the door.

He turned the knob and found himself facing Kellyn and Lunick (not to mention Kellyn's three Pokémon and Lunick's Minun!).

"Our ride's on the floor," Lunick said.

"Let's get going," Wes started to head out of the room, down the hall, and into the elevator. Of course, Lunick and Wes got to get in first. Because Kellyn's Pokémon already took up the space on their own!

At the ground floor, where the three of them met together. They headed outside the front doors without as much as a shuffle.

It was beginning to be dusk, the sun had already set and what remained in the sky were just several sunrays that darkly illuminated the clouds. It was relatively safe to walk on the streets now that there was barely any traffic.

There were three semi-suspicious figures walking quickly down the streets of Vermillion City. There were four Pokémon accompanying them.

"Where's our ride?" Wes murmured.

"They didn't say..." Kellyn murmured back. "They only contacted us by voicemail and I have no idea who's picking us up. They told us to wait at the port and they'll pick us up."

"Let's hurry up, then."

Moving on the sidewalk towards the famous Vermillion Port, the threesome went over to the pier's entrance and waited.

"I wonder who'll pick us up." Kellyn wondered.

"We're about to find out," Lunick looked around as he said that.

Ten minutes passed when a limousine pulled over the side of the road not far from Wes. Assuming that this was their ride, the threesome walked to the limo. The driver, who was dressed in a suit, got out of the limo and opened the door for them in a way that seemed unwelcome, but there was no hint of hostility either.

Wes walked over to the limo and stopped dead at the door.

It was Cyrus. He merely looked at Wes and gave a short sigh.

"I thought it would be a nice surprise for me to appear at a time like this."

Wes frowned, "Yeah. Some surprise you're giving."

Cyrus glanced at Lunick and Kellyn who had their Partner Pokémon with them, "The Pokémon can sit at the back. The Rangers come with you here. I'm sure the police would agree to that too."

"I'm not that kind of person to deal this way."

Cyrus stared, and motioned for Wes to come in.

Wes walked back to the Rangers, "its Cyrus. He's the one who's picking us up."

Lunick looked astonished, "That's it? To think we almost died getting info from him and he's repaying us by giving us a ride. How original."

"Lunick," Kellyn said irritably. "Remember that we can't die in a dream."

"Let's get going," Wes directed.

Kellyn loaded Grotle and Kirlia into the back of the limo while Wes and Lunick got in to sit across Cyrus. After a minute, Kellyn joined them.

"Your employer..." Cyrus began. "I won't say it. But it's enough to keep you out of Cipher's books, isn't it Wes? I thought you had a smarter idea than that, being you."

Wes did not look at him, but said, "What do you want from us, Cyrus?"

"Inception."

That got Wes' attention and interest, and as a result Wes faced him.

"Can it be done?" Cyrus asked.

Wes, Kellyn, and Lunick remained silent.

"I'll take that as a no, then. Shame," Cyrus said. His expression unchanged.

"Now why would we take that as a shame?" Lunick asked.

"It is pretty obvious, isn't it? If you can steal an idea from someone's mind why can't you just plant one there instead? Wouldn't that be easier?"

Pachirisu and Minun looked as if they had no idea what was going on.

The threesome on the other hand was deep in thought.

"It's not," Kellyn said defiantly. "Ideas would have to form by itself. I can't just put my own idea in there because you know that I gave it to you. Your mind could instantly draw itself back to the source. If I were to perform inception I would need to plant an idea that couldn't be mine. Even if I were to do it I would need something real small, I mean small enough that the idea is untraceable. An idea that could grow and turn into a multitude of connections, and not to mention that..."

Kellyn trailed off. He couldn't think of anything else.

"I agree with Kellyn," Lunick said. "Inception is next to impossible. I don't know if it can be done properly."

"You said 'next to impossible'," Cyrus noted. "Can you do it?"

"Do you recommend it?" Wes said with doubt. "Or do I consider it an option? Because there are some other ways I could break through Cipher with."

"Not that you know of," Cyrus said. "Yes, consider it an option."

"Then consider it not done, Cyrus," Wes replied. Cyrus sighed.

The limo pulled over to an airfield on the outskirts of Vermillion City. Where, near the hanger, a private helicopter was waiting for them.

"Tell the pilot where you want to go," Cyrus instructed.

The Rangers were the first to get outside, Grotle and Kirlia followed them.

As Wes was in the middle of exiting Cyrus shouted, "Hey! Wes!"

Cyrus leaned outside, "What if I propose that you could go back to your home? Would you like to go back to Orre? To your best friend?"

Wes thought of Rui at an instant, but no... How?

"It's impossible!" Wes shouted back. "That region will be on to me the second I get back! Can't be done!"

"A minute ago, inception could be applied in the same way," Cyrus called back.

Lunick hesitated for a brief instant, and shouted to Wes, "I think it's a bad idea, Wes! Don't listen to him!"

But Wes remained where he was, "What's the idea?"

"Simple and plain. I will not guarantee that it will be clean," Cyrus said.

"Nothing, that involves planting an idea, can be plain!" Wes argued.

"You still haven't heard the idea."

Wes waited.

"My competitor has persuaded the president of a major bank to hand over his company. But the catch is that the bank holds the money of every known person in the world. I need the president of the bank to change his mind from signing the agreement."

"Every person in the world, huh?" Wes raised an eyebrow.

Cyrus nodded, "So, do you want to walk into the realm unknown? Or would you rather run away, mourning for life to see your best friend again?"

Wes had no choice. If it meant that much to Cyrus and it was his best chance of seeing Rui again. He would do it. He turned to Cyrus and nodded.

Cyrus smiled, "You can take the liberty of assembling your team, Wes. Select sensibly."

And then Cyrus was off, his limo disappearing into the night.

Wes boarded the helicopter, speaking with the Rangers, "Let's get going."

After they were all inside, the helicopter took off.

"Where to?" asked the pilot.

Kellyn looked at Wes, "What are we looking for, anyway?"

"We need an architect, preferably two, seeing that we already have two point men already."

"Two point men? Who are they?" Kellyn asked.

Wes and Lunick looked at him quickly. Kellyn shrugged.

"You have got to be kidding me, Kellyn. Who?" Lunick said.

"Let's get back to where we were, okay?" Wes interfered. "Anyone here knows where to acquire an architect?"

The next minute was spent in thought.

Kellyn motioned to the pilot, "Take us to Floaroma Town." The pilot nodded.

Before Wes or Lunick could ask anything, Kellyn said, "I have an old friend of mine who just might suit the profile." And they turned northwards to the Sinnoh Region.


	3. The Architects

_**Chapter three**_

The helicopter Wes and the Rangers were travelling in landed near the Valley Windworks on Route 205. Kellyn and Wes got out, but Lunick stayed where he was.

"You never know, he could take off at any moment," Lunick pointed out.

Wes and Kellyn approached the serene town of Floaroma. The people there were carrying out their business of gardening as usual.

"Remember that we're here to look for an architect, Kellyn. Not to do some sightseeing," Wes reminded. Kellyn blankly look at Wes as if he were stating the obvious. "I sure hope you've got someone good in mind." Wes added quickly.

"I think there'll be someone just as good," Kellyn smiled. "I've got someone who's known to have hiked up two mountains and navigated a third. Wait... you're not going to corrupt one of my friends are you? That's not going to work for me."

"Relax, Kellyn. Your friend will get paid, but I won't go to the extreme."

They came to a house behind a flower shop. Kellyn knocked on the door and waited.

The door was opened by a girl with a unique hairstyle in which some of her hair stretched upward and some in front. Half-asleep, dressed in a red sweater and black sweatpants, she looked exhausted. But when her eyes fell on Kellyn, she was re-energized.

"Oh! Kellyn! Wow!" she said.

"Hello, Mars!" Kellyn's voice was pleasant and polite.

* * *

**A/N: If anyone is wondering how Mars got here, maybe you should consider reading my family-friendly story "Catharsis". It's a pretty good one!**

* * *

"Wait..." Wes cut in. "She's not Team Galactic's Mars, is she? She's a criminal!"

"I _was_ a criminal," Mars protested. "But not anymore! By the way, who is this, Kellyn?"

Wes heard, but didn't believe. The girl he was looking at was a Team Galactic Commander, but no one in the town identified her as a criminal, nor was they surprised at her appearance. He wished he could have that too.

"Mars, this is Wes. If you don't mind, he has a bit of a job for you. A choice."

Mars raised an eyebrow, "What kind of job is this?"

Wes yawned loudly. "Can't it wait until morning?"

Kellyn nervously looked at Mars, "You don't mind if we stay a night, and do you?"

"Oh! Of course not! Come on in!" Mars staggered happily.

Unfortunately for Lunick, he had to stay behind just in case if the pilot ever thought of taking off without them. Also he stayed so the pilot would not get the impression that Wes was done with his trip.

* * *

The next morning... at Floaroma Meadow...

Mars and Wes were at the other side of the meadow not far from the Fuego Ironworks. Kellyn the Pokémon Ranger stood guard at the entrance (but not before telling Lunick that they weren't done, or he would have left already!).

"Now, before I tell you what the job is," Wes began. "I need to ensure that you have the correct concept of what you're dealing with."

Mars nodded while she purely practiced its Slash attacks, "What kind of job am I dealing with? Secret stuff?"

"Well..." Wes scratched his ear. "The job I'm doing is not, speaking in very specific terms, legal."

Wes took out a touch screen, "I want you to draw me a maze, and I mean a complex one, where it takes two minutes to draw and takes one minute to solve."

Mars began to draw a maze while Wes timed her. She hadn't been expecting a job like this, maybe something more complex... who knows?

Mars handed her completed maze. Wes took it, gave a quick examination, and started to draw a line to solve. It didn't even take a minute for Wes to finish, he tapped the 'delete' button and handed the screen back to Mars. "Try again. You'll have to do better than that, Mars."

Mars took the screen and started to draw a circular maze. After the two minutes, she handed the screen back to Wes.

Wes went straight to solving the maze. Afterwards he, incredibly, looked dissatisfied, saying "I don't know if you can do it. I might as well start with someone else –"

Mars took the screen forcefully from Wes and began to draw a square grid. A beginning and an exit but instead drew a singular line through the middle where it had four separate openings. She then drew lines connecting to the gaps and made a severely complex maze out of the lines. Connecting and connecting and gave it back to Wes.

Wes tried it, but the amount of complexity Mars put in the maze had diverted his attention to one of the gaps in the maze. Therefore he hit a dead end right next to the exit.

"Now that's a lot better," Wes nodded. After that the two headed toward the exit, where Kellyn was waiting. Mars went to her house and packed her Kangaskan with her.

While the three of them was heading for Route 205 where Lunick prepared his helicopter (the pilot had insisted Lunick to go to Jubilife City to use a helicopter of his own, that way they could boost efficiency and stop inconvenience for the pilot), Kellyn was discussing with Wes what to do next.

"We'll need another architect, someone to keep Mars in check," Wes pointed out.

"You know any other good ones?" Kellyn asked.

"How should I know? I'm not a Sinnoh resident, you see."

What they were unaware of was that Mars was curiously listening in on their conversation, "I think I might know someone..."

Wes and Kellyn stared at her. Mars shrugged.

"If you're thinking of building, I might know just the guy. He's a Gym Leader, you see. And building is one of his professions. He helped navigate the Underground!"

Kellyn looked at Wes, who stopped to think.

After a moment, Wes nodded, "Take us to him."

Mars was the first of the three to jump in the helicopter, "Take us to Oreburgh City, Ranger!" She ordered as she waited for the other two to get in.

Lunick paused and said to Mars, "Who... are you, anyway?"

Kellyn jumped in and said, "This is our new architect! Impressive, right?"

Wes also got in by that time, "Just do what she says, we've got a schedule to keep."

Lunick raised an eyebrow, "Whatever you say, Wes."

So they headed south towards Oreburgh City by air. It only took ten minutes!

* * *

"I've never been to Oreburgh City, you know..." Kellyn said nervously.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. We'll just have to look for the Pokémon Gym. That's where he usually works. Well, half of the time," Mars said.

They had landed at Route 203 between Sand gem Town and Oreburgh. Wes looked at his watch. The time was 11 am, but Cyrus never told him when he was actually going to meet him again. Maybe later...

Oreburgh City was a mining community stationed right at the base of a mountain, with the Gym Leader specializing in mining minerals and gems hence the city's profession. Rock-type Pokémon are also what the Gym Leader prefers to use.

"There's the Gym," Mars indicated. "Let's go check if he's there, okay?"

Wes and Lunick nodded in agreement.

The Pokémon Gym was very empty. At the very least there was a man waiting inside the unnervingly quiet gym. There wasn't even a single Trainer in there, let alone the Leader.

"Anyone in here?" Lunick asked the man at the entrance.

"Oh, you mean Roark? He's down at the mine. Why?"

"We're just looking for him..." Lunick said, paused, at turned to Kellyn. "Who's Roark, by the way?"

"He's the Gym Leader of course!" Kellyn hissed.

"Ah, right. Thanks for helping!" Lunick said to the man at the door.

Outside, Mars led Wes and the others near the Oreburgh Museum of Mining (where artifacts and fossils were extracted and restored) and, besides the museum, headed down the mine with their own Pokémon leading the way (Minun and Pachirisu lit up the tunnels with their electrical shocks).

There were plenty of miners in the mine. Wes went up to one of them.

"Hey!" Wes called out.

The miner stopped his digging and turned to Wes, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, do you know where Roark is?"

"The Gym Leader? He's further down the mine over there. And I'm meant deeper."

"Thanks."

Every so often as Wes and the team went deeper the four of them would run into some boulders along the way. Thanks to Mars' Kangaskan, the moving (not smashing!) had been quick and easy.

The four of them continued into the dark mine. In one of the almost pitch-black tunnels of the mine, and there they had a very unwelcome surprise.

One of the miners called out, "Incoming Graveler! Move it! Move it!"

Wes looked to his left; there was a hoard of boulder-like Pokémon heading in his direction. Known for their destructive Explosion attacks, it wasn't safe at all.

Kellyn and Lunick took out their Capture Stylers and shouted, "Capture On!"

According to their Styler data there were seven of them in the field. Which meant that the Rangers could greatly reduce the amount of impact the Gravelers were about to reveal. With Kellyn's fine control of the Vatonage Styler and Lunick's veteran control of his Capture Styler, the two of them together captured two Gravelers each (Capture complete!). But that still left three remaining...

"Capture?!" Kellyn asked Lunick urgently.

"No time," Lunick replied quickly. "We have to delay them and make our escape."

But he spoke too late. The leftover Graveler advanced toward them at began to light up maliciously...

"Grotle!" Kellyn yelled. "Use your Grass Knot upward!"

Kellyn's Grotle obeyed, focused his energy, and shot a vine out of the ground in front of him. The attack managed to repel another of the oncoming Graveler, but that wasn't enough to stop the two incoming Graveler who were ready to explode.

"Hit the dirt!" yelled out a miner.

Wes, Mars, and Lunick threw themselves onto the ground. Kellyn, however, made sure that Kirlia was safely on the ground. Next he turned and motioned to Grotle who used a Razor Leaf to push back the Gravelers.

Kellyn and the last second didn't have enough time to throw him on the ground. Thinking better, he simply turned his back from the Gravelers.

The explosions generated with the sound rebounding from the walls were similar to that of a calamity. Lunick and Mars watched in fear as the force of the explosions hit Kellyn to the ground.

"Kellyn!" Lunick and Wes rushed over to him and examined his back. There were a few minor burns on his neck and legs, but apart from that he seemed alright.

Mars rushed up to Lunick, "Will he be okay?"

"He'll live. But he needs to see a medic later," Lunick answered.

The miners went up to Wes, "Someone wants to see you guys."

"Tell him we'll be there," Wes said.

"No, I mean he's already here!"

Wes looked to his right, there was a young red-haired man dressed in grey working clothes and a red hardhat with a flashlight.

"Hi, I'm Roark. Gym Leader and head miner of Oreburgh..." Roark trailed off at the sight of Kellyn. "Whoa! What happened here?!"

"Explosions from a hoard of Graveler," Mars replied worriedly. "The Rangers here managed to repel four of them. This Ranger here repelled a fifth, but the explosions got to him inevitably."

"Let's take him to the Pokémon Centre so to speak," Roark called out his Onyx and carried Kellyn upwards back to Oreburgh City.

* * *

Halfway up the path to Oreburgh...

"Imagine seeing you again!" Mars said to Roark.

"Yeah. Nice to see you, Mars," Roark smiled.

"You've met?" Lunick wondered.

"Of course we have, Mars came to my Gym a while back to earn a badge. She beat me really badly," Roark explained. "Incidentally, what are you doing here?"

It was Wes who talked, "Have you ever heard of extraction, Roark?"

Roark stopped walking for a second, "You don't mean extraction as in extracting in dreams, right?"

Wes nodded.

"Well, I assume you must be an extractor Wes. Don't worry! I've heard of them," Roark said in response to Mars' surprised look. Wes and Lunick alone were not. "Let's bring Kellyn over to the Pokémon Centre first." The exit of the mine was getting nearer.

* * *

Kellyn was placed in the medical care of one Chansey in the Oreburgh Pokémon Centre. Nurse Joy, the head of the center, approached Lunick and Mars after she came out of the medic room.

"How is he?" asked Mars.

"He needs at least two days to recover from the burns. If not the burn will stick for a while," answered Nurse Joy.

"What's the fastest time he could recover?" asked Lunick.

"Are you in a rush?"

"We are," this time it was Wes who answered.

Nurse Joy took out a clipboard, "Given that amount of freezing done by Chansey... four hours. Tops."

Lunick and Mars thanked Nurse Joy and went back to sit with Wes.

"So... Roark," Wes said in a low voice. "Do you have any experience with entering dreams? For building the dream?"

"I've tried once. I used it as a basis for my maps. You know, to discover hidden caves, train myself to extract minerals and all that stuff. But I've got too many Gym battles to pay attention to that."

"How's your building now?"

"Same as before."

"Good... first can you draw me a map? Fully original, with any obstacles you wish to put in to convert the drawing into a maze."

"Sure," Roark gestured for Wes to hand over his touch screen.

It didn't even take a minute for Roark to finish his map. Wes ran his eyes over it, checked it twice, and nodded, "This'll do."

"You mean it's not good enough?"

"Of course not! Anyway..."

* * *

Lunick headed into a building, sedatives in a metallic briefcase in hand. He knelt down and opened it.

* * *

"So this is where it leads to," Wes said to Mars. It was midday and they were on the side of a market in a crowded city. "You understand that in reality, our minds perceive what's around us, including Pokémon. In the dream, the reality around it isn't just there by chance. It's in our mind that we can put the surroundings of the dream into formation. Sometimes the feeling of it makes it like it's creating itself."

Mars looked lost, "Like..."

Roark was at the side of the market, "Imagine that you're creating a Pokémon Centre: you fix everything in place, all the rooms, computers, healing machines... our minds observe what's around us and at the same time create the dream. Subsequently, we can get right in the midway of that course of development."

"How does that work?" Mars asked while she and Wes walked to Roark.

"We start by using the creating part. Here's where I need you."

Mars looked at Wes intently.

"I need you to create the dream's world. You could expand the regions infinitely to create whatever you choose. Like that maze I told you to do earlier. You build the dream; the dreamer fills the dream with projections of their subconscious. I mean, this isn't your dream; you're just creating the design. That's all."

"But how could I grasp that amount of... aspects to make it look real?"

Roark smiled, "But that's the brilliance of it. When we're subconsciously awake they look pretty convincing to us that they're real, it's only when we wake up that we figure that it was only in our heads." Roark tapped his head when he said that.

"Am I going to do it myself?"

Wes said, "I figured that the job I'm doing would be too much for one architect. So I decided to bring another. Roark here seems to be a fine and experienced architect."

"Now consider this," Wes said. "You could never remember how you got into a dream right? It's always in the middle of some random scenario."

"Yeah?" Mars looked.

"How'd we get here?" Roark asked.

Mars stopped. She attempted to retrace her memories back to what happened, but it was all just a blank. There was nothing.

"I..." Mars was speechless.

"Where do think we are?"

Mars remained silent.

"We're really in a building right beside the Oreburgh Pokémon Centre and we're waiting for Kellyn to recover, Mars. Just wait for a few seconds. It'll be over..."

A massive fissure opened in the middle of the ground. Everything in the street began to fall into the fracture that quickly opened up toward Wes, Roark, and Mars.

Mars was terrified to watch everything fall into the fissure. First Wes fell into the fissure, then Roark, and then finally herself.

Mars closed her eyes and fell...

* * *

Mars woke up with a start, frightened.

Wes looked at her from opposite, "What do you think?"

She stared, "Wait... how you, me and Roark got in there at the same time?"

"Shared dreaming," Lunick said from the other side of the building, he showed the sedation briefcase he was fixing up. "You could even bring your Pokémon into the mix, as long as you don't bring an entire team. That's a no-go."

"Why don't you give us another ten minutes?" Wes asked.

"Ten minutes?!" Mars exclaimed. "It seemed much longer than that! More like an hour!"

"Your mind is tasked with the job of quicker function while you're sleeping. In return for that time is extended about six more times," Wes said.

"Ten minutes is about an hour within the dream," Lunick added. "Kellyn will have recovered by that time."

Roark and Wes looked at Mars, who took a moment for this to sink in.

"Ready?" Wes asked.

"I'll help you if you need to," Roark offered. "And to keep your building from going overboard."

Mars nodded.

"Good," Wes concluded. "Let's see what you can do in ten minutes.

Mars also took the opportunity to hook up a connected needle from hers to Kangaskan's. After sticking it into Kangaskan, Mars motioned to Lunick.

"Let's do it," Lunick concluded.

He pressed the button in the middle of the case. Mars, Kangaskan, Wes, and Roark drifted off to another sleep...


	4. Mars' Architecture Experience

**A credit goes to Dusk Mind for reviewing and a few more credits to those who have taken time to put this on their alerts. I don't own Pokemon, but the story's inspiration and basis goes to Christopher Nolan. This story isn't really a crossover since everything is occurring deep in the Pokemon world, so...**

* * *

_**Chapter four**_

Now Wes was in the middle of a city street. On his right there were several high-rises each with reflective glass walls. On his left were a few houses and, in front of them were Mars and Roark. Roark appeared to be teaching Mars how to build structures in a dream.

Wes walked silently to watch Mars build, "How's it going?"

"I think Mars has the basic idea," Roark said. "Merely thinking of the design is a start for her at least."

Mars looked at the clearing in front of her, "What should I start with first?"

"Well, you always build the dreams location first," Roark said. "A field, desert, tundra... In a dream Wes prefers a city or the inside of a building."

"You can start by building details," Wes instructed. "Bridges, oceans, mountains that we can't recognize... even massive forests are okay, because in the mind you can raise things up without so much effort."

"Try this for size," Roark said.

Roark directed to the clearing. A shape of a one-level building came into shape. It was followed by a sliding door and windows. To finish it a dozen trees sprouted from besides the building, blocking it from view.

"This is the basic version of a Pokémon Ranger depot. When we operate in large scale dreams, we would often first operate within these things as bases. And then we bring on the big stuff later."

Mars checked the inside of the depot. There was no one inside it as expected, but it was complete with an Operator's desk and a grass floor. Inside the back room were a couple of beds and a fairly large and hollow cabinet. She opened it. There was nothing.

Wes appeared in the room, "What do you think? I expect you to create one of these one of these once we're in the dream."

"As a base?"

"Something like that. When all of us appear in the dream we can use this as a rendezvous the second we enter the dream. If it's nothing else, in case if we were all separated."

"How should it look like?"

"As long as its components are completely original. The Operator's desk stays, but what else you put in there has to be from your own mind. Only use details: like a PC or a healing machine. Most importantly: hide it well."

"What's supposed to be in the cabinet?" Mars asked.

Wes paused. He responded after, "Don't worry about that. It's supposed to be used as a storing space of weapons when we're in the dream. But there aren't any in there because we have to bring it in there by our subconscious when we're dreaming. Take Kellyn and Lunick's Stylers for example. Sometimes they appear into the dream equipped with their Stylers. If they're not with them they will always appear in the cabinet."

"Is there anything else I can put in there?"

"You could, if you plan ahead, place any kind of Poké Ball inside the cabinet. Even Master Balls are possible to make. Apart from Darkrai, Pokémon can't be captured in the dream and be brought into reality. But still, you can capture Pokémon within the dream and they can be used."

"How does our Pokémon work in the dream?"

"They're connected with you in the same sedative. The neat thing is that there are two levels in the sedation: the first one is where you, the Trainer, are sedated. The second is when the Trainer's Pokémon are connected with the same sedative as the Trainer's, provided that their Poké Balls are stored inside. This means when the Trainer wakes up, so do their Pokémon. Should the Pokémon wake up first, the Trainer will remain asleep. The same way applies for Rangers, except that their Pokémon can be directly connected."

"I'll be waiting outside, should you know," Wes headed out. "When you've finished memorizing the layout of the depot come outside and I'll check how you did." Then he left.

Mars looked around at the Ranger depot for details. There was the Operator's desk, the back room... and the cabinet. She could add more to her liking, of course...

* * *

Roark and Wes looked at the even larger clearing in front of them courtesy of Mars. Mars herself went up to them and said, "I'm ready to try this out."

"Let's see how well you can do," Roark put on his working gloves.

Mars fixed her gaze on the ground in front of her. She, in her mind, focused on what her base would look like. Part of the depot that was starting to take shape was based on her imagination, like the idea that the depot was concealed by reflective mirrors that blended the depot with the environment around it. The depot had two stories and a lookout point on the top.

This was only the basis of Wes and Roark had told her. She was to create the building of the depot and fill it with her own details. The dream itself would build what would be inside the depot.

"Good start," Wes remarked. "What do you think, Roark?"

"I'll have to agree. But let's check how she did on the interior."

The three of them walked inside Mars' depot.

Roark was right. The building inside did look very real. There was a PC and Operator's desk in the depot. Not to mention a small indoor lake!

"The Operator's desk is here, that's good." Wes commented. "You've got your back room with the beds and cabinet. Oh! The cabinet's made of steel here!"

"I figured that stuff should be different in every depot."

_That's smart,_ Wes thought.

At the top of the depot, Roark looked around at the lookout point. It was covered very well with a treetop canopy. It gave a good view of its surroundings. He examined the tiled floor as well. It was colored a deep green that blended with the treetop canopy. After two similar assessments, he took the escalator back down to the ground floor.

"She's done a fine job with the top, there's a little bit too much green up there. Nevertheless, it gives a good camouflage from the projections," Roark said.

"The what?" Mars asked.

"Projections from the subconscious," Wes said. "Whenever we enter a dream the projections of the subject's subconscious are bound to hunt us down and kill us. You and Roark need to try your best to design the dream in a way where we can hide from the projections."

"Mars, that's an adequate job you did there. Ready to try something bigger?"

* * *

Now they were outside of the depot in the city streets. Roark gave Mars the freedom to design the dream however she wished.

"You have the layout basically of an entire city: office buildings, cars, a Pokémon Centre of course," Roark said. "That's bare bones for city building."

"Who are these people?"

"Projections of my subconscious," Wes said. "There are plenty of them from around here particularly when I'm bringing them in."

"Your projections?"

"Well, you're the dreamer who's building the dream. As my position right now is the subject; I'm here to occupy this world with my subconscious. You can literally talk to my subconscious it's how it helps us with the extraction of info from our subjects."

Wes' thoughts briefly stopped. He thought how it would be nice to talk with Rui again. He sighed a little.

"Are there any other methods to extracting your info?" Mars inquired.

"In that case, you as the architect could create something secure. Like a safe or behind one of a bank's safety doors. In doing this will without a doubt fill it with information the mind is trying to guard. But I tell you; the more noticeable the landmark of the target, the better it is for us to find in and while you're doing that hiding it from the projections."

"The dream needs a lot to think about, huh?"

"Well," Wes shrugged. "The dream needs a sense that you're actually there. The point remains that everything in the dream is integrated; from the feel of the dream to parts that seem obvious but can't be imagined in reality."

"May I...?" Mars motioned her hand forward.

"Certainly."

Mars imagined a twisted shape of the location. The city streets slowly started to bend sideways and curve. The street in front of them became slightly obscure and soon the other streets and buildings beside it were arranged in front of it as a spiral.

Roark looked at it intently, "Now that's... something."

He took the time to inspect the architecture Mars had demonstrated. While Wes and Mars went into the streets first Roark took out a GridBook, checked his record of building the dream, closed it, and followed Wes into the now twisted streets.

The sight was a little hard to look at in the mind. However, they were literally in a mind. In reality, it would have been normal for the mind to interpret the image as a spiral. In the mind, it was already interpreted in the first place. So Roark, Wes, and Mars had absolutely no problem walking on it.

* * *

The Pokémon on the streets, which included Absol and Metagross, were on the streets. Many Trainers on the streets stared at Mars and Roark suspiciously when they passed by.

"Why are they all looking at me?" Mars asked nervously.

"My subconscious has a feel that someone is creating this world. The more you change things within the dream; the projection's alertness is enhanced further. Should I be creating this world, they would ignore me. But since someone else is creating this world, they feel that something is out of place. They sense the unfamiliar presence of the dreamer, so they choose to attack the dreamer to kick the dreamer out."

"How do they attack?" Mars was very uncertain now.

"The most inconceivable way. You know; highly aggressive moves that are bound to kill. Insane, isn't it?"

"They're going to attack?!"

"It'll be you who they're going to attack, not me," Wes whispered. He said it quietly enough so that Mars couldn't hear.

Roark showed Mars how to build an overpass. With his Onix, he demonstrated how to build roads and bridges over them with illusions.

"Now you see; you can use your Pokémon to help shape the world. For example, my Onix can use its Rock Tomb to encase the bridge with a disguise that can make the projections confused. See?"

Roark's Onix fired four large boulders. The boulders jumped on the bridge and totally blocked off the bridge's view.

"See? We can actually walk through the boulders. It's just that the projections can't."

They continued walking, with Mars skipping around changing the scene with whatever she could think of: raising bridges or erecting super-tall high-rises. She looked rather satisfied with herself.

"Careful you don't go too far, Mars. Caution is advised," Roark warned. "Because if you do..."

"The projections will definitely close in on you," Wes finished.

After Mars had had enough with building, she faced Wes with a curious question. "How do I wake up?"

"Well. That," Wes held up his first two fingers. "There are two obvious ways to wake up. The first way is to get the clock expired in reality."

"What...?" Mars raised an eyebrow.

"Know what I mean? That's when the sedation wears off in the real world. Consequently: you wake up slowly afterwards."

"The other way is... if you die in the dream."

Mars cringed. This wasn't what she had been expecting.

"H-how do the projections know when do they kill?" Mars timidly asked.

"When they know who the dreamer is," Wes said.

Something caught Wes' attention. Across the bridge was Rui. It was just a projection of his subconscious, he knew that, but he had a hunch to why Rui was there.

"Excuse me," Wes bowed his head walked to Rui. Mars and Roark stayed where they were testing out new ways to build the dream.

"Rui. What are you doing here?" Wes went up to her. "Anything you need to talk?"

"Uh... yeah. The projections just found out who the dreamer was. You better get out of here, and fast," Rui pushed him away.

Wes thought about this, "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Oh come on, Wes!" Rui slapped her hand on his back. "Have you ever thought of a time that I've ever lied to you back in Orre?"

Wes sighed, "I suppose not."

"Then you better get going. The Cipher guys are getting here."

"Thank you, Rui," Wes started to leave. "I'll come back home for real, okay?"

"Oh yes you will!" Rui smiled and turned away.

Wes walked back to Roark, "They know."

"Are you serious?" Roark blinked. "We don't have much of a choice now..."

Without warning several massive meteors came crashing down in front of Mars. She looked up and there were a crowd of Flagon in the sky. Wes recognized them as enemies from his past: the Shadow Pokémon.

"Go away!" Wes shouted, but the Flygon in the sky refused obviously and continued to barrage Mars with their Draco Meteors.

Cipher Peons, more from Wes' subconscious, ran toward them from the streets and seized Roark and Wes first. They pulled them away from Mars.

Mars ordered her Gangaskhan to blast the Flygon away with Hyper Beam attacks. But that wasn't enough. The Absol and Metagross on the streets came closer to her menacingly. The Absol knocked Mars to the ground while a Trainer (whom Wes saw as a Cipher Admin) walked up to Mars with an evil smile on her face.

"Let me go!" Mars cried.

"Metagross! Metal Claw!"

The Metagross obeyed without question are one of its claws gleamed a shiny metallic color. It raised it and brought it down mercilessly on Mars' neck.

Mars opened her mouth to scream...

* * *

...Mars woke up and desperately gasped for air, thinking of what dying felt like.

Lunick looked at her with concern, "You all right?"

Mars kept breathing heavily, "Why couldn't I wake up?"

"The clock still has some time," Lunick showed the clock. "There's still three minutes left before you could wake up, you know. I thought Wes and Roark made it clear that you can't wake up from a dream unless you die."

Mars looked at Wes, who was busy packing his Poke Balls and putting away the metallic briefcase. "Forgive me," Wes murmured.

"What kind of subconscious is in your mind, Wes?!" Mars shouted.

"She'll need a GridBook," Wes said and shut the sedative case.

"What?!" Mars said.

Wes walked into a separate room, opened his GridBook to the last page, took out his metal jack and spun it on the center square.

Lunick pulled out his own GridBook, "This is a GridBook. There are times when you can't tell what reality is and what's a dream. It contains valuable information that only you can hold. That way, wherever you are in whoever's dream, you're never lost."

The jack on Wes' GridBook stopped spinning. Wes picked it up and walked back in.

Mars wasn't paying full attention to Lunick. Instead, she got up, "I don't know what issues you have in there, Wes. But count me out!"

Mars angrily stormed her way out of the building. Lunick was a little surprised. Wes on the other hand wasn't. Roark had nothing to say.

"Kellyn will bring her back," Wes said. "It's bound to happen for sure. At least we have a second architect here at least."

"We would still need two architects to do the job though," Lunick said. "Do you really think Kellyn could bring her back to us?"

"Tell that to him when he wakes up," Wes responded and put on his blue coat.

"Where're you going?" Lunick said as Roark handed him the metallic briefcase.

"I'm off to look for someone Kellyn reckons is a good fighter. Barry."

"Barry?! Wes, you can't go that far to visit Barry. He's in Goldenrod City in the Johto Region! Don't you know that Cipher's been operating there for the past year?" Lunick argued. "There are still a lot of excellent Trainers out in the world, you know."

"If we're going to get this done, we don't need just a good Trainer. We're going to need a forger," Wes said as he headed out the door.

* * *

**The lines sound familiar don't they? Of course, the film makes a good inspiration, but I don't own it...**


	5. The Forger

_**Chapter five**_

Once every two years, the Game Corner at Goldenrod City would raise the stakes of the Voltorb Flip cards by triple for one night only. At least two dozen Trainers from each region of the world would arrive in the renowned center to play the game, and dozens more came to watch it.

Among the players who came to venture in this high-stakes game was a Sinnoh Region resident from Twinleaf Town. He had a young, semi-serious face with fairly combed blond hair was at the busiest flip table in the Game Corner. He was dressed in an orange and white sweater and black jeans with a large bag hanging on his shoulder. Completed the look was his light green scarf on his neck.

"Okay, sir. How many coins this round?"

Barry shifted his focus on the table. The game was played by flipping all the cards on the table. Each card had a set value of coins and the more Barry betted coins on, the more coins he could win. The point was also to eliminate the opponent within the fastest amount of time. That way, according to rules, the player could instantly take a tenth of one of another player's coins.

Barry right now had two hundred and sixty coins with him. "Ten coins," he said to the dealer, handing over ten coins.

The other four players each had roughly three hundred coins each, with the leader at three hundred and fifty. Three of the four had already put in fifteen coins.

"That is fifty five coins in the pot," said the dealer. "As for you, sir?"

The leading player silently stacked twenty coins and pushed it in.

"Twenty coins, equal to seventy five coins in the pot. That's now... two hundred twenty five coins. Set your grids and pens."

The game boards appeared in front of the players, showing the five-by-five grid of dots. Each player, including Barry, took out the touch pens on their side.

"Ready... begin," the dealer signaled.

Barry reacted quickly; hitting dots labeling numbers that doubled or tripled his reward coins without hitting a dot that had a Voltorb concealed beneath it.

The others were fast. Within a minute and fifteen seconds, Barry finished his game.

"Keep hitting the Voltorb like that, you're never going to gain a million dollars," said a voice behind Barry. "How many bets have you made for a million dollars, anyway?"

Barry didn't need to twirl to know who was talking to him. "You can't tell, most of the time. I've won a few good rounds myself."

The dealer, unaware of their conversation, continued. "Two hundred twenty five coins... to Mr. Barry."

The crowd gasped. Some murmured amongst themselves while others began to applaud loudly and politely. The dealer pushed the pile of coins toward Barry.

"Will you keep playing, sir?" asked the dealer.

Barry got up and collected his winnings: four hundred eighty five coins. "No thank you, I think I'll drop," and he turned to follow Wes to the coin counter.

Barry placed the pile of coins neatly at the counter, "Technical Machine 26, please."

While the attendant went to fetch it, Wes started a small conversation. "Development has far to go at forging, huh?"

"Whatever you say," Barry said. "I think it's good enough as it is."

"How good?"

"It's adaptable to any condition. In short, Wes, man, it's versatile."

"Excellent."

* * *

Now they were at a café just outside of the Game Corner, drinking two coffees.

"Inception," Wes cut straight to the point. "Now, before I start telling that it's impossible, I - "

"No, it's clearly possible but certainly not simple. It's terribly hard. If you're asking if it's been done, I'm not the one to answer that," Barry replied.

"Well, my friends Kellyn and Lunick get the picture that it's next to impossible. In short, it can't be done."

"Mm.." Barry noted with a grin. "Kellyn and Lunick? Wow, you've already started out with the big guns at the start! Haven't you had them long enough to help you?"

"They're the best of the best at their careers," Wes took a sip of coffee.

"Agreed. But they don't have that great of a sense of humour, or imagination."

Wes scoffed. "Not unlike you."

Barry took out his GridBook. "If you're to perform inception you'll need something really creative, and pretty much leads to imagination. The most important part is that you need the simplest version of the idea for it to naturally grow on the subject's mind. Afterwards the idea will grow to complex layouts from the original resulting in the intentional idea to complete the subject via numerous possible outcomes."

Wes took in the workload he just listened to. "Has it been done?"

"You are asking the WRONG person Wes," Barry laughed. "No one has ever tried to perform inception and succeeded."

"What about you?" Wes leaned forward.

"I've heard rumors that some tried it. But the idea they tried to place didn't stick."

"Not deep enough?"

Barry shook his head, "No, inception isn't completely dependent on deep levels alone. You need the simplest version of the idea in order for it to develop in your target's mind. That being said, it's actually more about what you do within the levels. The feel of the dream, I might add. Like I said, you need the basics of the idea for it to grow naturally… So what's this idea you've got in mind?"

"We need to prevent the leader of a major commercial bank from handing over his company to a possible threat to the world by means of a signed agreement." Wes indicated.

Barry considered this for a few precious seconds. "Well you see there that kind of idea has various possibilities of primarily commercial motivations and opinions about the bank generated by the public. The only thing that remains is your target's own choice of how his tolerance is towards who he's signing the agreement to. If his mind is hard core to signing the agreement for a purpose, the choices we have are a lot less we can do to perform inception. But if he had to do it for another purpose we can alter the various selections we could do to him to change his mind. But the main point is; the target's inception should start at the original point of the matter."

"What is it?" Wes felt fretful.

"The target's judgment of the competitor," Barry stated.

Wes took out his PDA and typed in a few notes. Barry watched him casually.

When Wes was done, Barry asked, "Do you have a chemist?"

"You can never find a good one these days," Wes replied. "So I'll say no."

Barry smiled a big smile. "There's a pretty good chemist I know, her name's Cynthia."

Wes raised an eyebrow. "You don't mean the Pokémon Champion Cynthia?! How did she know about chemistry?!"

"She has her ways..." Barry said. "Apart from battling, she has a small passion for creating specialized sedatives for use in the dream world."

"Should we go now?" Wes suggested. "Why don't you take me there?"

"Not when there are guys right behind you watching us whatever we do," Barry whispered and motioned his head to the right. "Across the street."

Wes glanced, it was a man dressed in a red suit and wearing a familiar helmet...

"Cipher," Wes heaved a sigh. "I'm not surprised they found me lounging here already. Well, I took my chances coming to Goldenrod City anyway. Better get out of here before they drag me to Orre. Create a diversion and I'll wait for you at the Pokémon Centre. You have a few seconds."

"Why the Pokemon Centre?"

Wes stared off for a while, and then quickly recovered, "Cipher won't take their chances to attack a public place. Especially when it's pretty crowded at this time of the day."

"Eh... why not?" Barry got up and sent out his massive Torterra. "Use your Leaf Storm! Torterra!"

The massive armored turtle sent a violent twister of blowing leaves toward the Peon. But the Peon was slightly aware of that and sent out a Golbat to counter a bit of the Leaf Storm with a Wing Attack. On the other hand Wes managed a quick getaway.

But when he turned around a corner he bumped into another Peon. This one was more muscular than the other. The Peon grabbed Wes' neck and pinned him to the ground.

"I'm telling you that this pain is real, Snagger!" The Peon taunted.

Wes, while gasping for breath, grabbed a Poké Ball and tossed it aside. The Ball burst open and Espeon popped out of it.

"Espeon!" Wes choked. "Psybeam!"

Espeon lowered her body and ejected a concentrated beam of psychic energy at the Peon. The Peon was sent flying to the wall, crashed, and was knocked out.

Wes got up and dusted the gravel off his coat. Under normal circumstances he should have been getting away silently now. But three Peons appeared on the street behind him. Each armed with either an Houndoom or Rapidash.

"Fight!" yelled the Peon.

Wes knew better than to create a commotion. Instead he picked up Espeon and jumped onto the main street making a break for it.

"Fire Blast!" shouted a Peon.

"Flamethrower!" shouted another.

The intense heat of the two fire powers reached Wes' back. The Fire Blast soared past him and exploded into a brick wall with a brilliant star shape. The Flamethrower scorched past his other side as a wall of flame. Fortunately for Wes, the fire only went as far as the Houndoom behind him could gather.

Running, running, running, a Cipher Peon nearly caught up to Wes. Espeon ensured that that would not happen at all and fired a Psybeam to knock over the Peon.

Goldenrod City had many useful alleyways in the southern part to hide in daylight. For Wes, it was only a matter of minutes to hide from the Peons before they found him again. Wes shifted into a narrow alley from the Peons' view.

"Move it..." Wes muttered.

The alleyway was very dark. Beneficial to Wes; he took a breather from running. Espeon faced the opening on guard. Better yet, the Peons tried to squeeze their way in but the group of them together couldn't do it. In frustration and urgency, they squeezed out and said, "He must have gone over there."

Wes let out a sigh of relief, called back his Espeon, and headed out the other direction of the alley.

* * *

Wes figured it would be safer if his eyes were out of sight, so he put on his eye guard and walked into the sunlight. People didn't even bother looking twice at him. That was additional relief to Wes.

Or so he thought.

A Green Peon sighted in the crowd and saw a single Trainer in a blue coat and the unmistakable Snag Machine. At that he motioned three other Peons to tackle Wes from the rooftops. The three jumped and landed in front of Wes, Poke Balls raised.

Instead of sending his own Pokémon out Wes kicked one of the Peons, pushed over a second and dashed his way through. Another Houndoom and Rapid ash were sent out.

"Houndoom! Use Pursuit!" shouted a Peon.

Wes had been expecting it. But he had no Pokémon with him to counter or protect him from the move. The Houndoom growled and leapt towards Wes and crushed his back.

The move forced out a lot of the wind from Wes. He thought maybe he should just give in to them and save a little trouble of resisting...

_No_, he thought. _This is for Rui_.

Painfully, Wes struggled to push himself up and throw the Houndoom aside. Thanks to the crowd, the Peons had no hope in catching up to Wes for their Houndoom could only do as much as delay him.

Now Wes dashed down the street. There were still some Peons behind him, so he threw himself on the ground and snuck to the side of the street (remember that he's still in the middle of a crowd).

Then Wes had an idea.

While crawling, he sent out Umbreon and waited for the Peons to get closer. When they were well in front of him and within range, Wes nodded to Umbreon.

"Screech," Wes muttered.

Umbreon opened his mouth and let out a small sound. Though it wasn't audible, Wes knew that the waves Umbreon released were about to bring a vortex of sonic terror upon the Peons.

Wes chose to duck down and walk away when one of the Peons gave a horrifying yell of pain. One of the other two was suddenly on the alert for anything suspicious that might have caused it while the other Peon checked what happened to the downed one.

Then the Peon sighted Wes' familiar Snag Machine.

"He's over there... I'm after him," the Peon told his companions.

Wes had an influence that the Peon had spotted him and moved away. At the darkest alley, Wes was about to move through it when a blast of flame seared a little of his coat. He hit the burned part to extinguish the flame and turned around. It was yet another Cipher Peon.

"Halt in the name of Cipher!"

"Screw Cipher!" retorted Wes. "There's no chance I'll listen!"

He jumped out of the alley into the bright daylight on the main street. For some unknown reason, the pursuing Peon had ended up in front of him and was now dashing towards Wes. Wes was in a small clearing now, so there was no hope of trying to run away now that the Peon was running toward him.

As the Peon was running, a door on the side opened without warning. SMACK.

Wes stopped and looked at the door. For half a second he was confused how the Peon was hit by the door and wondered if it was by accident. But by the next half a second it made illogical sense of who just opened the door.

It was Cyrus.

"Oh, did I just help you there?" he asked.

"Perhaps," Wes answered and then asked. "Why are you in Goldenrod City?"

Cyrus gestured for Wes to go in. "I'm just doing regular Galactic business. None of your concern matters. After all, I need to protect my investment, which is you."

Wes got inside the building but left the door a little open just in case if Barry happened to pass by. As Wes thought, Barry was on the opposite corner of the street.

Cyrus moved closer to Wes. "Get him to Route 35. I'll meet you there."

Wes nodded and, when the coast was clear, walked outside and signaled to Barry. They met up in a shaded part of the city.

"Where've you been?" Barry said.

"To get a ride."

"What ride?" Barry asked. But Wes ignored him.

They walked straight for Route 35 in silence as it was better not to say too much anyway. Especially from any lurking Peons.

* * *

Route 35's scenery was the same as always. Except when Wes and Barry walked onto the route the first thing that caught their eye was an armored shuttle on their right marked with the letter 'G'. Cyrus was on the top of the shuttle.

"Need transport? I've got more from where this came from."

Barry stared ('_come on, it's Cyrus_!' he thought) and shrugged afterwards.

"This is your idea of a getaway?" Barry asked as he opened the shuttle's hatch.

"Eh... more or less," Wes got in.

The shuttle lifted high into the air and shot forward.

* * *

Back at Oreburgh City, Kellyn finally woke up in the Pokémon Centre. Lunick was sitting in a chair right beside his bed.

"Ugh..." Kellyn rubbed his eyes. "Lunick... how long have I been out for?"

"Over four hours thanks to Nurse Joy," Lunick said. "Roark and Wes showed Mars how to build a dream."

Kellyn contemplated this before giving Lunick a nod. "She must have gotten a lot of time to build the dream, then."

"About that..." Lunick started. "She got killed by a projection in the dream and now she's left us. I think she's in Hearthome City right now..."

Kellyn got up straight away. "I'm going to look for her, okay?"

"Wes said you would..." Lunick muttered. "Anyway, Wes has gone to look for Barry. Wes said you reckon he's a good forger."

"I'm pretty sure that he is," Kellyn said while he equipped his Vatonage Styler. "I'll voicemail you when I've got her back, okay?"

"No problem," Lunick yawned out. "I could use a nap anyway."

"Which means...?" Kellyn was perplexed.

"You're my alarm clock."

Before Kellyn could reply, Lunick dozed off.

Kellyn then thanked Nurse Joy, captured a wandering Doduo in Route 207, and rode on it for instant travel to Hearthome City.

* * *

"Okay, let's see..." Wes began. "The rest of today's agenda is that we need a chemist. That's all."

Barry pondered for a moment before asking, "Does your entire team have GridBooks?"

"All but one," Wes head up his index finger. "She's our architect. But what about Cynthia? Does she need one too?"

"Ask if she has one," Barry smiled. "I'm sure, as a chemist, she's bound to be using one."

Cyrus cleared his throat. "Tell the pilot where you want to go."

Barry said in a loud voice, "Hey! Pilot! Take us to Celestic Town! If you don't, I'll fine you a million bucks!"

"I can hear you, okay?!" the pilot shouted back.

Wes leaned back as the shuttle turned northeast.


	6. Recovering the Architect

**Credit for the inspiration goes to Pokemon and of course Christopher Nolan (who produced the movie). A little more credit should go to Dusk Mind who's encouraging this to keep going!**

* * *

_**Chapter six**_

Kellyn's Doduo travelled past Mount Coronet in a matter a minutes with speed. He didn't know why, but losing Mars as an architect seemed to be a large loss for the team. If he couldn't bring Mars back... who could be a suitable replacement?

Kellyn shoved that thought aside and tore down Route 208 through the checkpoint and onto the streets of Hearthome City. Grotle and Kirlia tried their best to keep up with Kellyn, but Pachirisu got an enjoyable ride on Kellyn's shoulder!

"Thanks, Doduo. See you again," Kellyn waved as Doduo parted from him.

The side streets were covered in the traditional streetlamps. The shops were open but there were no customers in them let alone a Pokémon. Being this deserted, Kellyn felt very uneasy. As if the streets were ignoring him completely.

Something big is going on here... he thought. What IS going on, anyway?

As if the world read his mind, there was a massive cheer coming from the other side of the city. Grotle and Kirlia stood where they were while Kellyn and Pachirisu rushed toward the sound of the cheers.

There was one Hearthome citizen in front of the Pokémon Centre who, apart from listening to the growing cheers, merely looked bored.

"Hey," Kellyn approached him. "What's going on?"

"Oh, 'lo Ranger, the Master ranked Beauty contest has reached its final stages. This contest in particular has contestants from all around the world this year!"

"I see!" Kellyn said with amusement. "Is the entire city going in there?"

"Practically, except for those who stay at home to watch it."

Kellyn pondered a few seconds before saying, "Alright, I'll check it out."

The citizen smiled and left.

"Well, guys," Kellyn said to his confused Partner Pokémon. "It looks like we could pay a visit to the Contest Hall and see if Mars is there." The Pokémon jumped in excitement.

I just hope that she's actually there... Kellyn expected.

He checked that his Vatonage Styler was in check at walked the expanse to the famous Hearthome Contest Hall.

* * *

As Kellyn predicted right, Mars was there (although they hadn't actually met yet). Mars was sitting in the back of the Contest Hall with one of the many fine views of the stage. The crowd roared in excitement as the contestant from Cianwood City, with her Seaking, fired a bubble of water in the air and pierced it with a Horn Attack. Before the Seaking could land, she splashed a Whirlpool to the ground in a spectacular finish.

Mars took notice of the music that had been playing throughout the performance. She had to admit that it was intense to see such skill. It was breathtaking.

But... something else was still on her mind since she had met Wes. He and Kellyn needed an architect to design the dream and she did it just fine. Should she have gone back? Could there have been another way to get away from it? No, it was impossible. Mars had seen nothing like it and she wanted to go back, yet another part of her told her not to.

_There was so much I could do in the dream,_ she thought_. But I can't go back, that – Wes guy's got too many problems in his mind. But there's not anything like it. Why am I feeling like this now? Should I go back?_

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the contest...

The Trainer's Seaking had begun dancing to a tune demonstrating its beauty. Such grace had become the building's tension. It became nerve wrecking...

* * *

Kellyn walked in the Contest Hall and went to the receptionist. "Hi, I'd like to see the ongoing contest right now. Could I go in?"

The receptionist typed a few keys on her computer. "You may. Tickets are on sale for 50 Pokedollars each. For you, Ranger, I'll make it 40."

Kellyn took out his HSBC card and gave it to the receptionist. "Make it quick, please."

She took the red card, swiped it, and gave it back to Kellyn. "Enter, if you may."

"And I probably will," Kellyn took the card with appreciation.

The door opened for entry.

"Grotle, Kirlia, you stay here." The two Pokémon nodded and went over to the side.

"Here we go," Kellyn said to Pachirisu, who was now standing on the floor. "Remember, Pachirisu, look for a girl with a wacky hairstyle with a black dress and red sweater. Actually, let's wait for the contest to finish before we talk to her."

Pachirisu nodded in agreement and happily jumped up and down giving off electrical discharges before Kellyn could bring Pachirisu inside. The Hearthome contest was still in progress. That was fine for the Pokémon Ranger.

Kellyn entered the hall and took a look around. In a crowd like this it would be next to impossible to find one individual. Then again, Kellyn was looking for Mars. With her own unique hairstyle, she would be much easier to find.

"Pachi! Pachi!" the Pokémon tugged at Kellyn's ankle.

"Huh, what is it Pachirisu?" he looked down at his Partner Pokémon.

"Pachi! Pachirisu!" Pachirisu pointed in the direction to his far right.

"Good going," Kellyn nodded. Wow, she picked a good spot.

Kellyn and Pachirisu turned and walked to the right.

* * *

In the stands, Mars was enjoying her time, but a little bit of her experience with dreams still seemed to linger in the corners of her mind. She became troubled. She needed to talk with someone!

"But who can I talk to?" she asked herself without thinking.

"Pachi! Pachirisu!" squeaked a little voice on the ground.

Mars looked down. It was a Pachirisu. She had met this particular Pokémon before, but it belonged to none other than–

"Good afternoon," muttered Kellyn's voice.

After seeing Pachirisu, it became no surprise to Mars that Kellyn was in the building. She reclined in her chair and faced Kellyn, "Hello."

"Lunick said you left Oreburgh–"

"Of course I left Oreburgh! Why would I want to enter something like that?! Wes has got way too many problems for me to go in there!"

Mars said it in a manner that made her point. In her heart, though, she was glad she could talk about it to someone else who knew what she was talking about.

Kellyn remained silent and while watching the show waited for Mars to keep talking.

"His subconscious is just too much for me. I mean, they just want to kill me once I'm in there, and they're merciless!"

"You know, the subconscious attacking you aren't as bad as you think they are. They just attack you when they discover that you've changed too much stuff in the dream. If, of course, the subconscious has been trained to fight off dreamers; they won't be any different than regular people," Kellyn pointed out. "Just settle down, will you?"

Mars calmed down and pondered some thoughts for a while. When she gathered her thoughts, she turned to face Kellyn again.

"Why do you guys need me? And what's Wes trying to achieve?"

Kellyn took his eyes off the stage to look at Mars. "Um... we need you, as an architect, to help design the dreams as we go through each level of the dream. All of us have that kind of capability to build the dream, but we each have our different roles that prevent us from building the dream. That's why we need someone else who can build the dream solely on their own without interfering the others' processes."

"For your second question; Wes is doing all of this because he wants to go home: to see his one and only best friend in the world."

"Who is it?" Mars asked.

"A girl his age named Rui. The two of them together helped defeat the criminal organization Cipher one time. She is also the only person Wes trusted."

"Isn't she the red haired girl who I saw in building the dream?"

"Probably. I also saw her a few times myself in the dream, but only as a part of Wes' subconscious," Kellyn returned his gaze to the stage.

"Does she attack like the others?" Mars couldn't help her: she had to know what Rui was doing in the dream.

"Now that," Kellyn emphasized. "That's different. You see, as Rui is the only one Wes trusts, she often acts as an agent in the lines to reveal to us what the dream is planning or when the projections are going to attack. Wes cares for her too much that he couldn't stand the idea if Rui was killed. Even in the dream."

"Does she mean everything to him?"

"Well, I don't think I could know about that. My guess is yes. From my experience with Wes, she's the only one I think knows how to make Wes happy. Wes needs you because you might be able to help him to get his way back home to see Rui."

"Do you encourage it?" Mars softly asked.

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Wes to start with."

Mars, finally accepting that her skill was for a good cause, finalized by nodded her head.

"If you like, do you want to expand your building skills a bit further?"

* * *

Hearthome's Amity Square had a regulation for using only cute Pokémon to enter the park. Since Mars didn't have any cute Pokémon at the time, Kellyn let her borrow his Grotle. But Kirlia... she looked a little broken-hearted for not being able to join.

"Amity Square can give a small example of how you can trick architecture into impossible fields. For example, look at the towers in the park. You could walk into one and you'll end up in another. That sort of thing can conceal the layouts from the projections whilst letting us know what the real layout is. We can deal with the projections afterwards."

"So we can basically hide ourselves without getting killed by twisting up the thing," Mars said. "I mean the dream."

Kellyn nodded his headed and walked into one of the towers. He reappeared in another tower across the park and motioned to Mars to go into the tower.

_One of these days, I might even consider a career as a park designer_, Mars thought. _Still, that's no different than architecture._

Mars reappeared behind Kellyn. "There must be some kind of tunnel network between these towers. How could we have ended up in other places? Am I supposed to build a tunnel network in the dream too?"

"But that's the amazing part in dream building. Didn't Wes tell you this? In the dream, you can basically do anything. Here, why don't I show you?"

They left the park and picked up Kellyn's Kirlia, who was literally crying in despair.

"Come on, Kirlia. It was only temporary," Mars coaxed. "Sorry that Kellyn had to bring Grotle along!"

Kirlia wiped her tears and did a spin to Kellyn.

"Right. Let's head back."

The five of them; Kellyn, Mars, Pachirisu, Grotle, and Kirlia, left Hearthome City.

Remember that Kellyn was supposed to make a voicemail to Lunick!

* * *

They were back at Oreburgh City. Kellyn knocked on the door of a building right beside the Pokémon Centre. Lunick wearily opened it.

"I thought you told me that you would voicemail me when you've got her back..." Lunick yawned out. "I was actually taking a nap... and you were my alarm clock..."

Minun lifted up his hand in frustration and emitted a charge on his hand. "Mi! MI!"

"I'm really sorry..." Kellyn looked down in shame. He was desperate to get his friend back on the team. How could he be blamed?

"You had all that time in Mount Coronet to make a call. You can't be that forgetful right, Kellyn?" Lunick stared down.

Mars chose to intervene before Lunick said enough that Kellyn would fall. "Hey, he's pretty tired, you know. Give him a break! He's going to show me more about dreams!"

Mars was first to get inside the building. For her it was hard to believe that this was the exact same building she had awakened in four hours ago.

Lunick made a face and finally took out the metallic briefcase with two needles. "I'll give you five minutes this time. That's enough for half an hour."

"Do you want any Pokémon to join you?" Lunick asked Mars while Kellyn stuck a needle into Pachirisu and himself.

"I'm fine," Mars put her Poke Ball in her pocket and stuck the needle into her wrist.

"Everyone ready?" Lunick laid his finger on the button in the case.

Kellyn and Mars nodded.

"Let's do this," Mars clenched her fist.

Lunick pressed the button and both Kellyn and Mars slowly got drowsy, and then faded into a deep sleep...

* * *

The building they were inside was a standard seaside glass skyscraper, though the exterior walls were in the shape of a modern castle. The shape was unimaginable.

"From what Wes wants, we need to build a dream with four complete levels. Use portals like the towers in Amity Square to navigate and jump from place to place in the dream. Needless to say the Ranger Depot must be included while you're building."

"It must be massive to build the dream! How big are the levels?" Mars asked.

"You can use a city to forests to massive mountains. The point is you need to construct the dream in a way that the dream can go forever and ever. That's how the dream keeps building itself. For example, take the mirrors; the endless hallway," Kellyn showed two wall-sized mirrors opposite to each other. Pachirisu fired a bolt of electricity and the mirrors shattered, creating an endless hallway.

"The dream levels you make have to be complex enough that we can hide from the projections. Like Amity Square's towers, you can create secret paths such as doors to make us jump everywhere. Don't make too many, because the projections can use them too."

"In other cases with building the dream," Kellyn continued. "You need to create endless loops to cover the boundaries of the dream so the subject doesn't know that it's actually a dream."

Mars watched the ocean waves outside the skyscraper. "Is this my subconscious?"

"Indeed it is. They may not be so violent since you're not trained to fight off extractors, but they'll fight off eventually," Kellyn said.

"Can Wes build dreams too?" Mars asked.

Kellyn paused. "Yeah, he can build a dream. He has a fine capability to create a layout. It's just that he won't."

_So why won't he?_ Mars thought.

And as if he read her mind, Kellyn said. "He thinks it'd be much easier and safer to do his job if he doesn't have the dream layout memorized."

"Is it because of his subconscious?"

"Specifically, I think its Cipher," Kellyn scratched his neck. "They've prevented Wes from building a dream ever since he got expelled from Orre."

"So what happened?" Mars couldn't help her to ask another question. "Is it someone else's fault?"

"Not to say anything personal, but Wes always had a fear that Rui would die in his dream by Cipher. Cipher made him Orre's public enemy number one so he can't go back. Because of that, he can't see Rui either. Since then his dreams have been tormented by Cipher all the way. His subconscious includes them and they won't stop at getting a kill at him, at least from what Wes thinks. His thinking influenced his subconscious to killing him."

"Cipher must be terrible," Mars muttered.

"They used the most of the most vicious Pokémon of their time. Wes and Rui, with some minimal support from friends, crushed two criminal organizations and their plans with them entirely foiled Cipher's quest for global domination. I suppose Cipher wanted to get revenge against Wes by banishing him."

"Still, Wes avoids building dreams because of Cipher. I think he's haunted by them."

Mars brushed her hair aside. She caught on what Kellyn was saying, but she couldn't grasp the idea of hearing any more. Instead, she chose to change the topic. "Lunick mentioned to me about building GridBooks. Do I really need one?"

"A GridBook is essential to keeping track of where you are within the dream, and..." Kellyn checked his watch. "We're almost out of time. I'll contact Wes to get someone to manufacture a GridBook for you."

"Lunick said they're supposed to be unique," Mars pointed out.

"Yeah, but you'll still someone to help build the complicated insides of the GridBook. You can't just do it alone."

"And now..." Kellyn checked his watch. "We should be waking up soon."

Mars felt the world fade a little darker.

* * *

**Getting confused with the story yet?**


	7. The Chemist

**Thank you to those who are putting this on their favourites or on their alerts!**

**I don't own Pokemon, or this story would seriously be published...**

* * *

_**Chapter seven**_

The Team Galactic shuttle landed in the river in the mountainous region of Route 210. Wes, Barry and Cyrus got out and hiked up the trail to the higher ground of the route. With the help of Barry's Torterra, they managed to give themselves a bigger jump onto the main route. Barry called back his Pokémon and they walked into the Celestic Town community, home to one of Sinnoh's ancient ruins.

"Okay..." Wes began. "So where is this chemist supposed to be?"

"Well, it isn't the Pokémon Championship season now," Barry replied. "If nothing else, I'm pretty sure she's staying at her grandmother's."

"Which house is she staying at?" Wes asked as they kept walking into the town.

Barry pointed at the largest house there was. "Up over there. Cynthia's grandmother is the elder of Celestica Town."

"Great... more hiking..." Wes muttered.

They trekked up the path to the home of Cynthia's grandmother. Barry knocked on the door politely and waited with Wes and Cyrus.

"I wonder if she's home..." Wes pondered.

"She has to," Barry said in a way in which Wes had to jerk his head to see what Barry's point was. Barry noticed and said. "Come on, I was just kidding! Maybe not." (Cyrus raised an eyebrow and muttered under his breath what sounded like "Pokémon Trainers...")

The door was opened by Cynthia's grandmother. She looked up at Barry and smiled a little. "Well, hello Barry. Long time no see."

"Same to you," Barry grinned. "Say, do you know if Cynthia is home right now?"

"Cynthia? She's in the Celestic Ruin site. She's doing a lot of her 'experiments' lately. Ones I've never heard of, though I know that she's becoming very talented at it."

She walked outside. "Do you want me to introduce you to her?" But that was when she noticed Wes and Cyrus waiting outside. "Your friends too."

"Thank you," Barry smiled.

Cynthia's grandmother paced down the steps into the middle of the town and guided Barry, Wes, and Cyrus into the cave leading to the Celestic ruins.

"I hope you wouldn't mind if she made a little bit of changes to the ruins," Cynthia's grandmother cautioned. "It might become a little of a shock to you."

"No problem! A little change wouldn't be a problem!" Barry raised his arms into the air and walked in with the other three.

Apart from Cynthia's grandmother; Wes, Barry and Cyrus stopped dead at the doorway. _What has she done to it?_ Cyrus thought.

A little bit of changes was an understatement. The walls were lined up with bottles and bottles of liquids (Wes assumed that they were experimental liquids and not sedatives) with a table at each side of the wall. At the center of the cavern was the largest table where Champion Cynthia, dressed in a black coat and a black metal wreath on her head, was working on her potions.

"Cynthia, dear..." her grandmother addressed.

Cynthia looked up and accidentally dropped a tool. "Oh. Hi grandma!"

"Cynthia, you have a few guests here. I'll leave you to them," and she left.

Cynthia picked up her tool and scrambled to the group. "Barry! Welcome!"

"Hello Cynthia!" Barry's face was happy and yet it looked perplexed. "Cynthia... what happened in here?"

"Oh, that? I needed a laboratory to complete my experiments. My house just doesn't seem big enough."

Her eyes fell on Wes and Cyrus. "Who's he? And what in the world is _he_ doing here?!" She pointed angrily at Cyrus.

"I'm Wes, Miss Cynthia," Wes stretched out his hand. "I'm... a top extractor employed by Cyrus here and I'm seeking a chemist."

"You're working for Cyrus AND you're an extractor?!" Cynthia exclaimed.

"Why? Are you surprised?" Wes glanced.

"Well, no... But I haven't seen one for a while. I've forgotten what it was like..." Cynthia said. "Not to mention that this is CYRUS you're working for. But anyway... since this is extraction we're talking about, you want me to..."

"Compose a formulated sedative for the job," Wes explained. "Barry says you've got a good talent for specially making those."

"You got it!" Cynthia said proudly. "From standard potions to my own creations to sedative compounds, I've got it all here! Anything else you require from me?"

Wes gave a split second to think. "I'll need you to come out into the field with us."

"Wes, I'm not really the type to go into the field. Bear this in mind; I'm not a field person. I'd rather be a battler."

"We'll see to that," Wes smirked. "It would be much better if we didn't have to battle. At least in the dream," he added. "Still, we need you to modify the compounds that designate our specifications. Whether you're in the field or not we still need you to do your part. It's small, really."

"So what's this specification you're requesting for?" she placed a hand over her lip.

"Great depth," Wes stated.

"A dream within a dream? Two levels of dreaming intensity?" Cynthia asked.

Wes shook his head. "Not even four. We need five."

"Impossible. That many dreams, particularly those that exceed at least three, within dreams are too susceptible to collapsing, not to mention frighteningly fragile. It might lead to demise for everyone. Also, I might add, formulation of that kind of compound might be pretty tough for me to make. If nothing else, it'll be a while."

"So why don't you add a booster dose? Like an extra sedative for example?" Wes suggested. He definitely could not lose a chemist, especially since this was one of the very few he could physically come across.

Cynthia's eyes widened. "Let's see, Wes... how many members in your team are joining this expedition?"

Wes thought for a while_. Me, Kellyn, Lunick, Mars, Roark, Barry, and you_, he thought. Not to mention a technician! "Eight members, including yourself," Wes replied.

"Make it nine," Cyrus spoke up. "I've got plenty of firepower to support the team just in case if something happens."

"I don't think we have enough room to squeeze in an extra, I'm afraid," Wes disagreed. "Firepower or not."

"It seems that will not apply today. The only way I know if you've completed the job is if I was actually there to witness it," Cyrus said.

Cynthia was briefly at a loss for words. "Okay, but that amount of members will definitely take some time. The sedation will last the same time, I'll guarantee."

She turned around to her potion stocks and searched for any compound that proved to be a significant use for Wes' need. With so many potions in the area, it would have been impossible for Cynthia to find without labels. She was smart though, and found the one she needed in a matter of minutes.

"Hmm..." she thought and examined the potion. It was colored a deep blue and had a dark purple swirl lingering in it. It was nothing dangerous, but Cynthia worried if the potion was too powerful. She sighed and turned back to Wes.

"Here, this is the best I have. This is what I use for extreme doses, but if you want me to modify it Wes, I'll be happy to."

"Is it good for shared dreaming?" Barry asked.

"Oh yes... with the amount of team members you have, this potion's sedative power is bound to distribute sleep to each of you guys equally without having to give an overdose. Nine members huh? That's perfect!" Cynthia nodded.

"Can we try it out?" Barry asked.

"Sure!" Cynthia replied enthusiastically. "She took out what Wes recognized as a metallic briefcase. Cynthia applied a few drops of the potion and took out three needles.

"Do you want to join us, Cyrus?" Wes gestured.

"I'm alright. Let me know when you're done," Cyrus took a seat.

"Very well, Cyrus. But I'm telling you, you're missing out on some great stuff!" Barry said.

Cynthia placed just one extra dose into the briefcase and pressed the button. "I've set you up for half a minute. That's three minutes on your clock."

Wes and Barry felt the world slowly drift away...

* * *

The world they were in was a blank ground but with lots of projections. Barry walked up to Wes and they did nothing more than walk. Very soon, Cyrus entered the dream by walking past a projected door.

"It appears we are doing very fine," Cyrus said.

"I must remember to ask for a technician when we wake up. Mars hasn't got a GridBook yet. That reminds me; Barry, has Cynthia gotten her GridBook yet?"

"Remind me to ask her when we wake up," Barry smoothed his hair. "Anyway, let's keep walking."

Wes looked around at the dream. The projections were mainly made up of either Barry's or Cyrus'. What about his own? Were the Cipher projections going to attack?

"Hey... Wes!" cried out a familiar voice.

As Wes suspected, Rui was always there to mess around even in another dream.

"Rui... you just can't leave me alone, can't you?" Wes murmured.

Rui ran over to Wes and gave him a neck-crushing hug. "So what are you doing today, Wes? More extraction? Fighting projections?"

"I... am just trying a sample of a sedative, Rui. There's not much you need to do, for now. After all, I'm just dreaming, right?"

Barry and Cyrus looked puzzled to see Wes making a conversation with a projection. But they chose to ignore it and kept walking.

"Wes," Rui tapped his fingers. "I don't know what's going on, but somehow your projections are growing stronger. They get even worse if you're going deeper into the dream. Do you think you could survive?"

"I'm doing this so I get see you again, Rui. If there was another way, I'd do it. But unfortunately there aren't any alternatives. Wait for me just a few days, okay?"

"That's fine, Wes. Just as long as you –"

Rui broke off as an aquatic blast hit her on the back. Wes was temporarily immobilized as Rui crumpled to the ground. He recovered himself and kneeled to pick her up. "You okay?!"

"I- I'm alright, Wes. But watch out... they know I'm your weakness. Don't let me slow you down! I'm nothing more than a projection. You have to keep moving..."

"No, Rui! Projection or not, I still regard you as a friend. Come on now, be strong."

Barry ran to Wes and shouted. "Wes! The projections have found Cyrus and they've taken him out! The dream's collapsing! Move! Move!"

Rui struggled to lose her grasp on Wes. "Don't worry about me; I'll just see you again, right? In another dream, perhaps..."

"No hard feelings?" Wes looked at her in both eyes.

"None at all," Rui slowly closed her eyes. "But since the dream's collapsing, we'll go down together this time."

Wes tearfully closed his eyes too as the dream started to fall into pieces...

* * *

Cynthia finally found her GridBook buried somewhere underneath the piles on her desk. She turned to the second page and attached the book with the sedative. Cyrus would be waking up soon along with Barry. But why was Wes still in the dream? Cynthia looked at the clock, there was just three seconds left.

Barry and Cyrus opened their eyes. They looked at each other and then looked at Wes. Cynthia was busy taking their needles.

Wes felt a little bit drained. Literally, he was fine. What Barry, Cyrus, and Cynthia couldn't see was that Wes had shed a little tear. He got up, took out his GridBook, and took out the metal jack. He quickly spun it on the center square to ensure if...

The metal jack fell over. He was fine.

Wes took a deep breath and closed his eyes just one more time. Cyrus took a few seconds to glimpse at what exactly Wes was doing.

"Are you okay, Wes?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Wes breathed. He closed stored his jack and stored his GridBook away.

Meanwhile, Barry was asking Cynthia about her GridBook.

"Does it have ALL the necessary components in it?"

"I haven't touched the thing for months. It might need an update," Cynthia nodded.

"We'll need to pick up a technician before we start the job then. Our architect doesn't even have one. But back to what we were saying, do you have a totem?"

Cynthia turned to the last page with the square grid on it, opened a tiny compartment, and took out a 20 sided dice. "Check."

"Good. Pack one Pokémon with you and we'll be off," Barry finalized.

She went outside to her house and picked up her Garchomp. Cynthia waved good-bye to her grandmother and headed with Wes and Cyrus to the entrance of Route 210 where Barry was waiting.

* * *

At Route 210, the Team Galactic shuttle lifted off once again.

"Wes, I need to tell you something," Barry started. "We need to get–"

Wes' PDA sounded. He took it out and checked the mail, "Excuse me, Barry."

The mail was titled 'Need a tech, ASAP.'

_Wes, Mars still doesn't have a GridBook or a totem. Grab a technician and make it quick. I'm pretty sure you know that once we've got a technician we're good to go._

_Kellyn_

Wes switched off his PDA and turned to Barry. "What was it you were saying?"

"I was saying that we need a technician for Cynthia."

_To think the team needs a technician for two different purposes. What a coincidence,_ Wes thought. "Anyone knows where to find a good technician?"

Surprisingly, it was Cynthia who spoke up. "I know a good friend of mine in Mossdeep City. He's an expert in the field of technology."

Cyrus waved to the pilot. "Take us there."

The pilot nodded and turned the shuttle southwest.

Wes took out his PDA again and made a quick message to Kellyn.

_Kellyn. We now have a chemist on the team and we're off to grab a technician at Mossdeep City. Meet us there and bring Lunick, Mars, and Roark with you. We'll need to discuss what we're going to do once we've gathered the rest and manufacture Mars' Grid Book._

_Wes_

He hit the 'send' button and closed his PDA, hoping that Kellyn would receive his message as fast as possible.


	8. The Technician

**Thanks to Dusk Mind who's taking time to review!**

**Pokemon belongs to Nintendo, Inception belongs to Christopher Nolan and his movie crew...**

* * *

_**Chapter eight**_

Lunick sat across from Kellyn, who was reading his Styler.

"What's going on?" Lunick asked.

"Wes and Barry have got a chemist. They're off to Mossdeep City to grab a technician, which means..." Kellyn nodded to Mars. "You'll have a chance to get your own GridBook."

Roark spoke up. "So, I guess we should start packing and leaving for the city."

"I was about to say that!" Kellyn laughed.

Mars smiled and packed her bag. Roark picked up his Poké Ball holding his Rampardos. In the same way, Lunick held on his Minun and Kellyn brought along his Pachirisu, Grotle, and Kirlia.

"Let's catch a flight from Jubilife City," Lunick declared.

The only other was Mars. She was not even close to finish packing!

* * *

After a tiring four hour journey from Route 210 the Team Galactic shuttle finally landed on an airstrip within the shallow waters of Mossdeep City.

Cynthia was the first to get out. She stretched her arms and walked up the steps to the city centre. She was followed by Wes, Barry, and Cyrus. They walked through the busy streets of the city. Half the city was deserted because, as Wes could evidently see, the Gym Leaders Tate and Liza were holding a massive Pokémon battle in their own Gym. That was good for Wes. It meant that no one would bother noticing their group.

"Wow, Mossdeep City has a cool station," Barry stated.

"What? What station?" Wes looked around.

"The space station, silly!" Barry clapped Wes on the back. Wes choked.

"Did you know, Wes? That they've tried to launch a rocket to the moon a while back? They even tried an expedition to find Deoxys! He, it was worth a shot," Barry smiled hysterically. "Now! While you three go find the technician, I'm off to the Pokémon Centre to withdraw another Pokémon."

"Why, do you need to go now?" Wes groaned, still recovering from choking.

"I might need a Pokémon to assist with my forger abilities."

Before Wes or Cynthia could stop him, Barry darted for the Pokémon Centre.

"Funny guy, that Barry..." Wes muttered. "Anyway... Cynthia, where's this technician friend of yours?"

"Uh..." Cynthia thought out loud. "He lives on the westernmost edge of the city. Do you mind a long walk? Because it is."

They walked anyway, passing a few more houses, two high-rises, and the Pokémon Centre. Cynthia searched carefully just in case if she knocked on the wrong house. After knocking on a few more doors, Cynthia gave up.

"He's just not around here..." she sighed. "Where could his house be?"

Now that Barry was at the Pokémon Centre, Wes and Cyrus had no idea what to say.

There was a passerby near their vicinity. Cynthia waved to her. "Hey! Do you know where Mr. Stone's house is?"

"Stone? His house is over there, (she pointed to a house that made Wes say 'I told you his house was there!') but you won't find him home. He's off mining for rocks at the Shoal Cave. It's on Route 125."

"Shoal Cave? That's no problem. We could just walk over there when we're on the mainland," Wes started to leave for the shuttle and stopped. "Hey, where's Route 125?"

Cynthia and the passerby shook their heads and simultaneously pointed in the direction north. It was the gruesome ocean that made up Route 125.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Cyrus said. "I'll stay with the pilot if you intend to go to the Shoal Cove. Let me know when you're ready."

"Not a fan of water? Cyrus?" Cynthia smirked.

"No, it's just that I'd rather not deal with places so far away."

Then he left.

Wes and Cynthia looked at each other. Without having to say anything, they knew they had to notify Barry first.

They left immediately for the Pokémon Centre where Barry would be waiting for them impatiently.

* * *

"You're late!" Barry grinned. "That's a million bucks worth of punishment!"

Wes shook his head and drew up a chair in a corner of the Pokémon Centre.

"Here's the position, we're going to the Shoal Cave to get our technician. From Cynthia's perspective," Wes glanced at her. "He seems to be our best bet to manufacture not to mention upgrade the GridBooks. Barry, we might be away for some time. If Kellyn, Lunick, Mars, and Roark arrive, let me know."

"You got it, Wes."

Wes and Cynthia got up and headed outside to Cyrus' shuttle. They boarded and departed without any sense for stopping.

Barry on the other hand put his hands behind his head and fell into a trance.

* * *

"So where's this Shoal Cave of yours?" the pilot asked.

"Up north," Cynthia directed excitedly. "Over there! That giant slab of rock!"

Cyrus looked outside at the ocean. He just had too much water...

The shuttle turned to the Shoal Cave. Cynthia took note that the tide was low. That meant that Mr. Stone was down in the lower cave. The shuttle landed on the shallow water and Wes and Cynthia made sure their Poke Balls were with them and got outside.

"I'll wait for you until you are done, Wes," Cyrus waved to him and he and Cynthia entered the dark Shoal Cave.

"Espeon! Umbreon! Take the lead!" Wes threw his Poké Balls into the air.

The two Pokémon burst out of the Poke Balls and landed on the ground. Espeon rushed inside and illuminated some parts of the cave, giving them some sight.

"Keep looking around or we go deeper," Wes said. "Shame that we don't have any rock climbing Pokémon with us."

They walked down the steps, past the rocky and sandy floor, and into a deeper section of the Shoal Cave.

"There should be a ladder that leads deeper into the cave," Cynthia said. "He's not around here... we have to go deeper."

They twosome walked past a wooden bridge and turned a sharp corner. There was the metal ladder Cynthia had been expecting to find. Wes gestured his hand. "After you."

Umbreon engaged a battle with an attacking Sealeo who was hiding in the dark. With a single Screech and a Faint Attack, Sealed fainted as was tossed aside on the ground.

"How experienced are your Pokémon, Wes?" Cynthia asked out of curiosity.

"Several years, if not counting a break from saving a region," Wes answered back.

They didn't say very much after that. Instead they focussed on their own safety as they headed deeper into the Shoal Cave, for Cynthia nearly tripped over a mound Shoal Salts as they were scaling a rocky ascension.

After crossing a bridge and down yet another ladder, Wes suddenly felt very cold. In the next cave, he was sure to find out why.

The deepest cave was an area of pure ice. Wes, being used to the heat in Orre, wrapped his arms and let Cynthia take the lead into the cave.

"I'll be f-fine," Wes stammered. "You go look for him. The sooner the better, and take Umbreon with you and meet back here when you've found him."

"Okay," Cynthia called out her Garchomp to scratch some parts on the floor allowing friction and grip to occur. As a result the floor wasn't so slippery since she was wearing high heels! Umbreon took the lead into the cave.

Cynthia was by herself this time. Unlike Wes, she was dressed in black. Meaning that she would be considerably warmer than Wes would be, not to mention that she was from the northern region of Sino, where she was much more used to the cold!

" Garchomp, stay with me. Okay?"

Her most loyal Pokémon gave a slicing motion with her arms as a response. Cynthia smiled and walked further into the Shoal Cave.

* * *

After some time, she walked carefully into one of the darkest parts of the ice cave. There were a couple of Glalie floating ominously in one corner and some Snorunt playing together in another. None of the Pokémon was aware of the Sinnoh Champion in the cave. Her black clothes blended well with the dark.

_That's cute_, she thought, seeing the Snorunt playing together.

She felt much colder now that the cave had reached its pitch-black point. Cynthia began to wonder if the passerby was even correct that he was here. She brushed that thought aside and kept walking, remembering that Umbreon was there as her guide. But the fact remained that she started to doubt that he was here...

Then Umbreon gave a little growl and his yellow rings glowed brightly. He skipped to a distance not far from her. "Umbreon! Umbreon!" the Pokémon called out.

Cynthia walked cautiously to Umbreon, trying not to slip on the ice. But the darkness was too much for her, and she accidentally slid on a black sheet of ice. Her head collided with the cold ground and she was losing conscious.

She could make out someone, a Trainer maybe, walking over and kneeling down beside her; flashlight in hand, and Umbreon by his side.

"Are you all right?" he asked gently.

Cynthia began to fall into a state of fainting, the young man kneeling beside her got out what looked like a brown small pouch.

* * *

Within that time when Cynthia fainted; the plane coming from Jubilife City had just landed at the Mossdeep airstrip. Barry, after withdrawing one of another of his Pokémon mentioned earlier, was entirely aware of this when he woke up and went out to the airstrip (and literally, ran on the airstrip) to the plane. A flight of stairs had been slowly brought over to the plane's side with a crew of engineers driving a few energy bikes.

"Okay, men!" said the leader. "Unload those bag gages on the double!"

Barry took out a pad from his bag and prepared to send a message while running. He couldn't call Wes because he knew that Wes had no contact material except for his PDA. Barry switched on his pad and typed in the words.

_Wes, the plane has arrived in Mossdeep. I'm pretty sure Kellyn and the rest are in there. Let me know how you're doing, okay?_

He hit the 'send' button and waited for the plane to completely finish its landing procedure. The stairs had now been attached to the plane but the door hadn't opened yet.

* * *

_Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mossdeep Regional Airstrip. Please remain seated until we have given the order to do so. Luggage will be unloaded shortly. Thank you for boarding with us and we hope to see you again._

Kellyn, Lunick and what was practically half of Wes' team sat patiently with their seatbelts on. It had been about five hours since they left Jubilife City, and now it had lead up to this.

The flight was a little something of an embarrassment for Kellyn since his Grotle had to take up a space in the back not to mention the effort it took to squeeze him in. Thankfully, a Pokémon Trainer was willing to use his Psychic Pokémon to levitate Grotle to the back and made things much easier.

"Well, who's going to meet us?" Roark brought up the question.

"We don't know," Lunick answered. "There has to be someone!"

"Wait and see," Kellyn looked outside, the sky was getting dark and there were only a few rays of sunlight. He hoped that Wes managed to acquire a technician by now, if not later.

The airplane finally sounded to release the seatbelts. Mars and Roark took their bags and got up. All Kellyn and Lunick needed to carry around were their Stylers. But since Kellyn _had_ to bring his Grotle around this delayed them an extra two minutes. Thankfully the same Trainer with the Psychic user levitated Grotle up and out of the plane door.

"Anything to help a Ranger," he said.

They exited the plane with tired but dedicated looks on their faces. This was because they could finally complete Wes' assembly for a team. Now they need to find who was waiting for them.

"Hey! Guys!" shouted an enthusiastic voice. Lunick and Roark turned their attention to where or who the familiar voice was coming from. It, no surprise to them, was none other than the forger Barry.

"Barry. What are you doing here?" Lunick was unsurprised.

"Wes told me to wait for you, and contact him once you arrive," he smiled.

Barry shifted his gaze to Kellyn, Roark, and then... Mars.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Who and what is she doing here?!" Barry said in disbelief. He had already met another one from Team Galactic on Wes' team...

"Uh, excuse me?! I'm just working as an architect!" Mars said through gritted teeth. "And my name is Mars! MARS!"

Kellyn stepped in front of Barry. "Come on, I talked her into it. You've got to give her chance to try it out, could you? I thought so."

Barry opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. It was as if Kellyn had already made up his mind of what he was going to say. Unarguable.

"F-first. Wes must be pretty strange to pick ex-members of Team Galactic. First you have Cyrus, and now her..."

Mars raised her eyebrows. "Master – I mean, Cyrus is here?"

She had known far enough not to relate back to her Team Galactic days. In her heart, it was best not to remember them at all. Just in case if anything bad happens.

"Well, YEAH. He's the one who chose to employ Wes into the job," Barry said as if it were obvious. "I thought you would have known that by known, being the architect."

"A-hem," Roark cleared his throat. "She's not the only one. I'm helping her with it."

Barry walked over and clapped his hand on Roark's shoulder. "That's a relief; I thought that Mars here was going to do it on my own."

Mars glared at Barry. "For your information Mister Barry, I was recommended by KELLYN to join this thing. So shut it!"

"Kellyn? Oh well. He didn't seem to have the brains for picking a good choice for an architect, you know, should have picked a smarter architect," Barry tapped his head.

Kellyn and Mars made furious movements toward Barry, but Lunick got in the way with both hands in front of him.

"Now, now. I'm sure Barry just meant it as a joke. You know how he always is, right?" Lunick said. "Always being a crazy type."

"Yeah, but – but – oh come on Lunick!" Kellyn shook his hands in a strangling manner out of frustration.

Lunick ignored him and twisted around to face Barry. "So, where's Wes?"

"He's in a cave up north in the ocean. We just have to wait for him and Cynthia to come back with the technician."

Kellyn stopped dead. "Wait. Are you saying that Wes hasn't even picked up a technician by now?! I was expecting him to be much faster than that! We could have been, or maybe we are behind schedule!"

"I'm pretty sure that he's fine. After all, he's the top extractor isn't he? Maybe he's just facing a minor delay," Barry reasoned.

Kellyn's Pachirisu electrically shocked Barry. "Pa-chi!" he screamed.

Barry shouted. "Ouch! That hurt you know."

"So where are you staying at? The Pokémon Centre?" Roark asked nervously for a change of pace.

"Me? I'm – yep I'm staying there, at least until I can find somewhere else to stay OR when Wes and Cynthia have come back with the technician."

Kellyn led the group to the Pokémon Centre. "Let's just hope they're all right."

* * *

Now back in the Shoal Cave, Cynthia came around with her Garchomp's Poke Ball placed neatly by her side. She had no idea how she came to be like this.

Then she remembered that she was knocked out for a while. Right! She was here to look for a technician! But where was Wes? And who was she looking for again?

And, standing in front of her, was a man about her age with silvery blue hair and sporting a black and purple suit with a white collar and a deep red tie. It was none other than the ex-Champion Steven Stone.

"Steven! I – I'm –"

Steven gently put his hand on her lip. Cynthia's face flushed a little pink. "Relax a bit. You took a horrible knock to the head, you know. Good thing Umbreon here managed to lead me to you."

"Then how am I still here? I should be knocked out!" Cynthia was surprised.

Steven took out a brown pouch. "This is a SecretPotion. I managed to pick one up a while back at Cianwood City. Your ailments should have disappeared by now."

He sent out Cynthia's Gar chomp. "Now, whose Umbreon is this? And what are you doing here in Shoal Cave, Cynthia?"

"I'm here for a friend's business. I recommended you to join him and his team. Oh, and this Umbreon belongs to him."

Cynthia tried to get up but she wobbled over. Steven caught her.

"We have to get back to my friend! He's –"

Now Steven lifted Cynthia onto his back by surprise. "Here, how about I carry you for the next bit? I'll get Umbreon to lead us back."

Umbreon nodded and started to walk.

"Wouldn't you worry of slipping? Especially when you're carrying me? You could fall! Slip! Get knocked out like me!" Cynthia protested.

Steven smiled. "I'm wearing shoes with cleats. Come on, do you want me to carry you, or not? Ms. Cynthia?"

Cynthia could not help but flush pink again. She really liked him a lot. _Such a gentleman…_

Steven had an impression of that and said nothing. He silently brought her up the ice cave and out into the warmer side of the Shoal Cave, but with a sense of pleasure himself. He wouldn't even tell how much he cared for Cynthia!

* * *

Wes had started a small fire to warm himself and Espeon. With only using a small amount of flint and dried algae, the fire was enough to keep him warm for the time being. The big question remained? Where was Cynthia?

At that thought his PDA sounded. He opened it and read it. It was, to no surprise, a message from Barry. After reading it, he closed the message and sighed.

_The rest of team is here. How much longer should I wait for Cynthia?_

A tremor shook the cavern. Wes got up on his feet and watched for whatever possibly might jump out and attack him.

To his grief, the wall started to break apart. It crumbled away to reveal, to Wes' relief, it was Umbreon, Metagross and Steven Stone, who was carrying Cynthia on his back.

"Steven, how nice it is to see you."

"I wonder if I can say the same for you, Mr..."

"Wes," he said flatly. "I'm looking for someone with good technological capabilities, and oh, what happened to Cynthia over there?"

Steven let her rest on the ground. "She just hit her head. I've got her some emergency medicine, though. She'll be fine for quite a while, but we'd better get some medical aid as soon as we can."

Steven got up. "Say, Cynthia tells me you need my services. Now, I can tell you that I'm pretty handy with technology. What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to manufacture a few GridBooks and update them –" Wes paused. "Wait, you know what GridBooks –?"

"I do, and I have one myself." Steven said. "Do continue."

"Well, we have an architect who is new to the job. We'd like you to manufacture one for her and update the team's Books too."

Steven got up. "I won't take long. Where are they?"

"They're gathered at Mossdeep City, waiting for you."

"Do you have a ride?" Steven asked.

The fire Wes set up extinguished.

* * *

Outside, Cyrus checked his watch. It was at least an hour since Wes and Cynthia had departed for the cave. He wasn't worried about them, but he was certainly concerned for the amount of time they were taking.

The water, unbeknownst to Cyrus, began to draw in...

* * *

"You're kidding me! Cyrus is your employer?!" Steven exclaimed.

"Don't be surprised. He doesn't have the motive to destroy the world and make a new one these days. He's focussed a lot more on the present Team Galactic," said Wes.

Cynthia shifted comfortably on Metagross's top and listened to their conversation.

"Yeah... I'll explain what I'm supposed to be doing for him once we're out of here," Wes looked up for the exit. "Maybe."

The ground gave a small tremor. Wes stopped and looked at Steven. "Did you do –?"

Steven shook his head and glanced at Metagross. "Uh... no?"

Wes' feet suddenly felt very cold. He looked down. "Oh no... The tide's coming in..."

In an instant, the cave literally felt like it was crashing down on Wes. He looked to see that a wave of seawater was swamping through the cavern. In an instant, he called back Umbreon and signalled to Steven. He nodded was already commanding Metagross to levitate and sent out his own Scarmory to fly on.

"Steven!" Wes yelled. "Get out of here! Tell Cyrus I need help!"

"Okay!" Steven yelled back. "Stay tight for one minute! Metagross! Get us out!"

Steven and Cynthia took a deep breath and plunged underwater. Scarmory and Metagross propelled themselves powerfully against the ongoing tide. With their strong claws, they pulled themselves closer to the cavern opening.

For the Trainers themselves, it was like being in a hurricane. Cynthia held her eyes tightly shut while Steven held tightly onto Scarmory. Within half a minute, they broke through the surface in the cave's entrance, gasping for air.

"Hah...! Hah..." Steven breathed.

Cynthia coughed and dragged herself outside the cove. Cyrus glanced at her.

"Where's Wes?" he asked without a tone of interest.

Cynthia glared at him. "He's stuck in the bottom of the cave! The tide's coming in! Help him if you can!"

Cyrus didn't say anything, but he took out a Poké Ball and threw it into the cave.

Steven narrowly missed the Poké Ball and turned around. He had just enough time to see a Gyarados' tail plunge into the water. _Hope you find Wes,_ Steven hoped.

Wes was in trouble. The water gushing into the cave was building up to his chin. If only he had stayed in the ice cave (which was high ground), he probably wouldn't have ended up in a situation like this. At least his Pokémon were safe.

On the other hand, he had no idea how he would get out of this cave alive. His only hopes were pinned on Steven and Cynthia or perhaps; Cyrus.

_This is getting ridiculous..._ Wes thought.

All he could do was float. Practically a slow death until the water managed to build itself onto the ceiling. Then... Wes struggled to make a sigh, he'd die drowning.

_Come on! Pull it together! We can still do this!_

We? Wait. Was that Rui's voice speaking into his head? Was that something he imagined? Or was it supposed to be his own way of encouraging himself?

No. He couldn't give up. This was for Rui. But still...

Wes felt tired at that point. He decided that if he was going to die, he would certainly rather not witness it. He floated there and went to sleep.

* * *

Some ten seconds later, Gyarados pierced the water leading into the deeper part of the Shoal Cave and looked around for whom or whatever Cyrus had instructed him to find.

The familiar Snag Machine was in Gyarados' sight. Assuming that this was what Cyrus was looking for; Gyarados blinked, and pulled the Snag Machine through the cave swiftly and efficiently, taking the unnoticeable body with it. Past the bridge and breaking to the cave's clear opening.

* * *

Steven was busy warming himself with, using his knowledge of rocks, a Fire Stone he excavated from a sandbar next to the Shoal Cave. Cynthia nervously tried to ask if she could use the stone herself. She ended up with a red face and she didn't bother. Instead, Steven shoved the stone into her hand and smiled. Cynthia smiled back.

By that time, Gyarados slowly lashed out of the cave's opening with Wes on his back. Wes was lying deathly still. Steven and Cynthia got up and walked over to Gyarados. Cyrus was already examining Wes.

"Is he fine?" Steven inquired.

"He's alive. But he's got a lot of water in him. We'll need to force it out," Cyrus answered back and checked once more of Wes' breathing.

"Allow me," Cynthia rolled up her sleeves. Steven and Cyrus watched blankly.

Cynthia put her hands together and placed them below Wes' ribs. She pushed and pressed hard. Wes did not budge.

"Agh... he's not moving," Cynthia shook her head.

"Try harder!" Steven said.

Cynthia kept up with the pressure. But Wes still didn't move.

"I- I think h-he's – d – de –" Cynthia stammered.

"Oh, come on!" Steven rolled up his sleeves furiously. "We'll do it together."

She nodded and let Steven press his hands on Wes. At a count of three, they simultaneously forced down on Wes.

Wes jerked. Out of his mouth came out a burst of seawater. Steven and Cynthia fell over in a sense of shock (He's a-live! Cynthia screamed silently).

It was Cyrus who looked at Wes from the top view. "Are you all right, Wes?"

Wes sprang upward and walked away, pulling out his GridBook. He opened the last page and took out the metal jack. Discreetly he spun it on the centre square. The jack spun feebly and toppled over. Wes clenched the jack for a few seconds and put it back into its rightful compartment. He snapped the GridBook shut.

This did not go unnoticed. Steven looked at Wes with concern and asked if he needed any treatment (he never saw the metal jack, though he did partially know what Wes was doing). Wes refused.

"It looks like we have your technician," Cyrus recalled his Gyarados and signalled to the pilot in the Galactic shuttle. "Is there anything else you need, Wes?"

"No. I'm just fine."

Everyone boarded the shuttle and they took off quickly for Mossdeep City. Wes took the time to send a note to Barry.

We're coming back with a technician. _Gather everyone at the airstrip. We'll be there soon enough. You hear me? EVERYONE! That's just for emphasis_.

Wes slapped his 'send' button and leaned back on his seat.

* * *

Barry had received the message all too well. He notified Lunick and the two of them pushed Kellyn, Mars, and Roark out of the Pokémon Centre to the airstrip.

It was a silent walk. There wasn't really much to talk amongst them. Lunick and Barry sat down on a bench near the shoreline to watch for an oncoming shuttle. Apart from Roark, Mars was the only one amongst them who was surprised who they were waiting for.

"You're kidding me. Mas... Cyrus... is the employer? The one who hired Wes?"

"Mars," Kellyn pleaded. "Don't call him Master Cyrus. He gave up that title a while ago. He'd rather not remember it at all."

Mars looked at Kellyn, who was already approaching the brink of depression. "Okay," she smiled. "Cyrus it shall be from now on."

Barry kept his vision on the skies. "Look! That must be it!"

Mars looked up. She recognised it as one of the old Team Galactic shuttles back in the dark days. Now, she only saw it in plain sight as a typical commercial transport craft minus the large 'G' on the shuttle's top.

The shuttle landed on the airstrip's side, not on the runway, in front of the team. The door opened and first to come out was a soaked Wes, followed by a soaked Cynthia and Steven all wrapped up in towels. Last but not least came out a perfectly dry Cyrus.

Kellyn, Lunick, and Mars gapped at the rest of the team. First; it came to Mars as a surprise that it really was Cyrus who was spearheading the thing. Second, the greater surprise to both Mars and the team (apart from Barry), was that Wes had picked out two Pokémon Champions to join his cause.

"Are you serious, Wes?!" Lunick shouted. "Pokémon CHAMPIONS?! I thought you had already had enough firepower with two Rangers and two Trainers, but Champions?!"

"It wasn't on purpose!" Wes protested. "Barry picked out Cynthia, but it led up to Steven for getting a technician! Don't blame me!"

Cyrus gazed at who he didn't meet in Wes' team. He seemed to recognise everyone except... for the girl with the red hair. It was the ex-Team Galactic member Mars.

"So it's you. What are you doing here?" Cyrus looked down at her.

"Mr. Cyrus. Good or not to see you again," Mars said casually. "I'm helping Wes and Kellyn out here. They tell me you're the one who employed him."

"I see. Well, none of Team Galactic is involved here I assure you."

"Good. But anyway..."

Cynthia was shivering. Mars hastily ran to her.

"Hey..." Mars put Cynthia's arm around her neck. "Let's get these guys to the Pokémon Centre. They'll catch a cold."

Roark went to Wes and Lunick supported Steven. They trailed off to the Pokémon Centre, followed by Kellyn and the other team members.

"We'll take an early rest at the Pokémon Centre," Wes stated. "Steven, do you want to sleep there too?"

"No thanks," Steven rejected gratefully. "I'll stay at my place. I also have two guest suites, if you need them."

Cynthia shook her head. "Come on, Steven. You're soaking wet. You've got to get someone to take care of you."

He shrugged. "Alright. But it's still open to any of you if you need it."

Wes came up with an idea. "Hey, can we use it as a meeting place? For tomorrow?"

Cyrus nodded. "I concur. May we, Steven?"

"That's fine by me," he smiled.

"Perfect, we'll meet there tomorrow morning," Wes declared. "Now, let's dry you guys up and have a small dinner afterwards. We'll get to work tomorrow."

The sun was halfway to setting. Within a few hours, Wes and his team would be sleeping a natural sleep for that night.


	9. Preparations

**I don't own Pokemon, for one thing. The other I don't own: are most of the storyline and quotes which I used from 'Inception' as a template to build on.**

* * *

_**Chapter nine**_

THE CONTENT OF THE TEAM

Wes – Extractor

Kellyn – Escort

Lunick – Escort

Roark – Architect

Mars – Architect

Barry – Forger

Cynthia – Chemist

Steven – Technician

Cyrus – Employer

POKÉMON THAT WILL BE JOINING THE DREAMERS

Wes – Espeon, Umbreon

Kellyn – Pachirisu, Grotle, Kirlia

Lunick – Minun

Roark – Rampardos

Mars – Kangaskan

Barry – Torterra, Ditto

Cynthia – Garchomp

Steven – Metagross

Cyrus – Gyarados

* * *

Cyrus looked at the list, and finally lifted up his head. "This is your finalization of the team? Seems pretty small."

Inside Steven's house in Mossdeep City on a clear sunny morning; the entire team was gathered and sitting around a large glass table to listen to what Cyrus had in mind.

"Cyrus, even if we've had more time, we have all the people we need to perform what you're asking of us. It doesn't get any bigger than this," Wes said. "Besides, adding that much more can be extremely dangerous and might compromise our mission."

Wes placed his hands on the table. "When we met, you told me that the world may depend on this job. How big or what is this commercial bank you're trying to stop your competitor from gaining?"

Cyrus took out a folder and slid to Wes. He opened the folder and flinched. He passed it to Cynthia. "You might find something interesting in here, Cynthia."

She took it and gasped. It was a photo of one of the Sinnoh Elite Four, from her Pokémon League. It was a well-dressed man with wavy long hair and eyeglasses. It was the Psychic user Lucian.

"Mr. Cyrus? Can you explain what Lucian is doing in here?"

The rest of the team gapped. Cyrus shook his head.

"Lucian: the president and CEO of the Hoenn and Sinnoh Banking Corporation."

"Wait. You don't mean HSBC, do you? The dominant bank which all regions in the world depend on?" Mars burst out.

"Precisely," Cyrus nodded.

"What's the issue with Lucian here?" Wes inquired.

"That is none of your business."

Now it was Wes turn to shake his head. "Mr. Cyrus, this isn't your conventional picture of breaking-and-entering into someone's mind in order to steal secrets and information. You asked for inception, and I hope you understand the weight and workload we have to undergo to fulfill that request."

Cyrus glanced at Cynthia. "With respect to the Sinnoh Champion, this man is the one I want you to perform inception on for a very great and dangerous reason."

Kellyn took a few notes. "What does your competitor have to do with this?"

"You see, my competitor is the Plasma Company: a business who claims to encourage the bond between Pokémon and humans. But this company is none other than the villainous Team Plasma from the Unova Region, whose intention is to destroy that bond. I do not know if they have any intentions to search for new means of sustainable energy, but my company holds the belief they certainly don't have any."

Barry and Lunick took further notes and nodded for Cyrus to continue.

"My company, Galactic Energy Limited, managed to briefly intercept a message from the Plasma Company. The message stated that they persuaded Lucian to hand over the HSBC bank to them by means of a signed contract. If they manage to take the bank in the end, they will control all the money from every region including Almia and the Orange Islands. Then the world will inevitably fall into a state of depression, and Plasma will achieve their goal with the amount of money that they need."

The team stared in fear at Cyrus, who kept talking.

"Should Lucian sign the contract to hand over the bank, and to all intents and purposes, Team Plasma will become the new world power! The world needs Lucian to change his mind from handing over the company."

"That's our part in this job: what is Lucian's judgment of Team Plasma?" Barry asked. "Cynthia?"

"He hasn't been acting strange. So I'm pretty sure that he trusts the Plasma Company very much. They could have convinced him that they're trustworthy," Cynthia said. "If there was anything wrong with Lucian, I would know about it."

"So what's the specific idea we're trying to plant in Lucian's mind?" Mars asked.

"The basis, Mars? We need to persuade Lucian that Team Plasma is not what he thinks they are. Our goal is to expose their true intentions," Kellyn answered.

Barry put his arms on the table. "Are there any references I can use? Because this is one of the only ways this thing will work."

The former Team Galactic leader bowed his head and did some thinking. After a while... "Try Wallace, the current Hoenn Champion."

Steven tilted his head. "What's Wallace's part with Lucian?"

"He's a colleague of Lucian's. He also happens to one of the HSBC's advisors."

Cyrus made the conclusion. "We will meet again at the Galactic Building in Slateport City when you've finished anything you need to prepare for."

The meeting had reached an adjournment. Steven collected everyone else's GridBooks for update and with Kellyn and Mars he went to manufacture Mars' GridBook.

"Mars, let's do it. Oh, and do you have a totem?" Steven asked.

"A what?"

"A totem," Kellyn said. "It's a small metallic object which you use on your GridBook to make sure that you're not in someone else's dream or as a way to keep track of reality. Take mine for example," Kellyn took out his GridBook and inside a compartment took out a small pen. "There's something this pen can't do in a dream. You can't let anyone touch the totem or else the totem will lose its purpose."

He stored the pen into his GridBook. "Just place it in there and no one can touch it. Also when Steven is upgrading the GridBooks there isn't a way he can touch the totems. Let's make your GridBook first before you make your totem, shall we?"

Steven led Kellyn and Mars to a helicopter. "This will take us to my office in Ever Grande City. I've set up my equipment there."

Steven's helicopter took off southward. Cynthia took out her equipment and went into a small house to make and tailor a modified sedative for Wes' specifications.

"Remember, we have a total of twenty-one members in this dream, including the Pokémon. Make sure that you've got the sedative right," Wes requested.

"Don't worry. I've got my special potion ready to be added."

Roark and Barry also took off for Ever Grande City: Roark to design the first layouts of the dream and Barry to privately practice his impossibly hard duties with Ditto. Wes and Cyrus parted ways for the time being to attend to their own matters. Lunick chose to follow Roark and see what they were up to.

Cyrus decided to inspect how well the Galactic Energy Limited Company was doing in his office in Slateport, where the arranged rendezvous was taking place.

* * *

Cynthia took out her chemistry kit. She put on her safety goggles and gloves before taking out the sedative. The blue potion she brought was also safely placed in there. She took out her tools, a microscope, and a few more potions.

"Let's see... we need a good sedative for five dreams..." Cynthia thought out loud. "The base compound will be a few drops of this potion..."

She added a few drops of the blue potion into the vial then added a main compound of two more sleeping doses. Finally when the potions made contact, the purple swirl in the blue potion burned through the compound and burst parts of it. The potion was approaching the end of the first phase.

Cynthia pondered. _They want five levels_.

She took out another specific potion, this one made to stabilize the compound to prevent the dream from collapsing and maintain the dreamer's connection with each other including her; there would be no side effects. If something unexpected happened, the blue potion would be able to stop the dream from breaking apart and tear up the team.

_Twenty-one members_. Cynthia used tweezers to add a piece of partially dissolved metal to expand the amount of people the dream could hold. But then there was also Lucian; that made twenty-two.

The compound split, separated, and became four separate potions.

Cynthia pulled her goggles up to her head and sighed. _This may take a while_, she thought. And she reached out for another potion.

* * *

Ever Grande City, the home of the Hoenn Pokémon League, was quite empty since it wasn't the Championship season. Roark and Barry, accompanied by Lunick, went to the lower half of Ever Grande to do their jobs. Steven, Mars, and Kellyn went to Upper Ever Grande where Steven's office was located.

On the trip there, Mars asked Kellyn and Steven when she should build her totem.

"It would be better if you made it as soon as possible. It would be much easier for the team's schedule, too. We could make time a lot more efficient," Steven said. "Better yet, we could make plans ahead of time."

"Where could I get some metal?" Mars asked.

"I have some at my office, but you better think of a design for your totem first."

When they arrived, the three of them disembarked the helicopter and headed to Steven's office in less than fifteen minutes.

Upon entering his office, Steven went to a nearby filing cabinet and took out a black metal case. Inside it was his own GridBook and technology tools for GridBooks.

"I'll need the Books for update, Mars, but I'll start by making yours first. When the basic parts have been made, I'll let you know. Design your totem while you're waiting and I'll be quick. Kellyn help me get the Books, will you?"

"Where's the metal?" Mars asked.

"In that filing cabinet over in that corner," Steven pointed. "But you can't use the totem until the GridBook is finished."

Mars went outside and walked back and forth. What would make a good totem?

Then it hit her. "I've got it!"

* * *

Roark had no way of designing the dream layouts unless Mars was there. Instead, he and Lunick watched Barry sleep right on the chair in front of them.

* * *

In a dream, Barry was reading files of Wallace to practice his objective. As a forger, he had the mysterious to take other appearances in a dream. The clock had been set for two minutes. That made twelve minutes of practice.

"Let's do it, Ditto," Barry ordered his Pokémon.

Ditto smiled and transformed into the Pokémon Champion Wallace. Barry looked into the mirror and concentrated hard.

"Master his personalities..." he muttered. Soon, there was a splitting image of Wallace on the mirror in front of him. Good enough, but Barry knew he could do better...

* * *

Cynthia had put together a better compound this time. With the right compounds, she had put together a powerful sedative with only two drops of the blue potion she brought. Its effectiveness was much more than what Cynthia had been satisfied with, the only thing remained was...

"They need a way out," she said aloud. She tried again to add the bit of metal she had used earlier. This metal would remove the excess sedative causing the impairment of the inner ear, allowing the feeling of falling...

The metal reacted with the potion and after a few sparks burst out Cynthia had almost completed the compound to her perfection. Cynthia held up the compound to see how it looked, but she nearly dropped it...

* * *

"The first page will show you where you are between reality and a dream," Steven flipped the first grid of the GridBook. "You will have a cursor, right here, which shows you your present location."

Mars took her newly manufactured GridBook and flipped to the second grid. "What's this one?"

"This is a similar grid to the first. In the event of shared dreaming this grid will show the team's locations, it only works when you're all sharing the dream of course."

The next few pages were blank. Mars looked at Steven again, who said. "These pages show you a record of your activity within the dream level. As you progress deeper into the dream, your GridBook will automatically record itself of what you did in that dream. When you wake up it will be blank, so that you won't confuse yourself with reality. I should add it's only the bearer of the GridBook who can read it."

Steven turned the next few blank pages onto a think one. "This is a communications grid. With touch screen control, you can talk to any team member in the dream face to face. Just call who you want in the dream and you'll talk just like that?"

Mars raised an eyebrow. "So it's basically a projection screen."

"Yep. But it's a really good one," Steven stated and turned to the last page: a grid with even square spaces. "This page... it's for your totem."

Mars eyes grew wider. "So...?"

"It means that when you use your totem to keep track of reality, your totem should only work on a specific square or two. No one should know how your totem personally works, so I'll leave it to you to make it."

Steven closed the GridBook and presented it to Mars with one hand. "Take good care of it, okay? I had to spend solid hours working on it, but at least I'm very glad this one will be the first to get upgrades! I better start updating the other ones..."

"Thanks Steven, see you at Slateport," Kellyn shook his hand.

"Right. See you later."

When Mars and Kellyn left Steven's house, they set for Lower Ever Grande City. Mars settled on making her totem after she had met up with Roark.

"I should remind you that a totem has to be relatively heavy. I hope you've got a good design in mind," Kellyn warned.

"Don't worry! I've got a very good one!"

"Glad to hear it," Kellyn smiled. "I'll get Steven to bring some metal when we're in Slateport. It'll save us some time."

So Kellyn captured two Staraptor and offered one to Mars for a ride.

* * *

Barry was still practicing how to mimic Wallace's personalities and behaviors. He had given a few more tries and afterwards he seemed to have mastered it.

He looked at his watch and at the last second he woke up.

"How'd it go?" Roark asked.

"It was alright. Let's go to Slateport City now," Barry said as he snapped the briefcase shut. "Where's my Poké Ball?" But it was right beside him.

Lunick led the way out for Barry and Roark, they boarded a ship for Slateport City.

* * *

At the Galactic Energy Limited office in the port city, Cyrus was waiting outside for the others to arrive. Through the messages sent from Kellyn, it was only Steven and Cynthia who would not be attending this meeting. Half an hour later...

"Good afternoon, Mr. Cyrus," said Wes who was the last to arrive. "Everyone here?"

"Yes, apart from our Champion duo. Mr. Barry is about to discuss how to work the first parts of the mission."

The two of them entered the space blue building. In a conference room, where Kellyn, Mars, Lunick and Roark were already sitting; Barry was the only one standing up, looking at a file of Wallace again.

"Here's the position; now that Lucian has been fully convinced that the handing over of HSBC will benefit the world, the Plasma Company will become extremely powerful. Our hope may depend on Wallace, one of HSBC's advisors, to change his mind," Barry said.

"So why won't Wallace do it himself?" Lunick asked.

"That's the problem; Wallace was involved in an injury during last year's Hoenn Championship, he'll take a while to recover and that's not enough time to convince Lucian to refuse signing the contract."

"In the first layer of the dream," Barry continued. "I can be able to imitate Champion Wallace's appearance and suggest basic concepts into Lucian's mind. In the next layer the memory of that concept from Wallace should generate itself into Lucian's mind again. In the third layer, where Lucian has put the puzzle pieces together; we enhance the idea in this level and the next one by putting the Plasma Company's intentions to contain it."

"So the second layer is basically a way to feed the idea into him by himself," Roark pointed out. "The third to hardwire into his head."

"You got it. It's the only way we can do it, otherwise he'll trace it to the source and the idea will fail," Barry concluded.

* * *

Steven and Cynthia arrived in Slateport City an hour later. Wes and Barry quickly went to them and briefed them about their conference.

* * *

That night, when the team had taken up residence in the local Pokémon Centre, Mars and Roark headed into the Galactic building to continue designing the mazes Roark had drawn out in the first place. Mars took the liberty of making her totem with the metal Steven had supplied.

She took very extreme care for forging her totem. It was the form of a small metal marble. When it was done, she took out her GridBook and for the very first time placed the sphere on the square grid.

Mars selected the fourth square from the top and the sphere rolled over to the opposite corner of the grid. It worked.

"Hey, Roark. Are the mazes done yet?" she asked.

"You better come and verify them," Roark waved a hand.

Mars opened the compartment for her totem and she shoved her metal marble inside it. She snapped the GridBook shut and went over to Roark.

There were five mazes in place on the glass table in front of Roark. Mars looked at them and gave her remarks. "The first layer is fine, considering that they have plenty of shortcuts within them inside a city and the Ranger depot. The second has... what?"

"This is an elevated maze," Roark explained. "The depot will be hidden well with the color blending itself into the environment. This maze, of course, will be in my dream, since elevation can build lots of mountains, and only I know the layout."

Roark went on explaining more about the layouts, and together they added improvements and loopholes to close the gaps. When the hour came that Roark had to sleep; Mars waved good bye and decided to play with her totem when he left.

Roark left the building. Mars heard a sound of a door opening and she went to investigate. Who would enter this place at such a late hour?

She peered into the next room. Standing with a metallic briefcase was Wes, who had his back toward her.

"Uh... Wes?" Mars said nervously. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, nothing I was just conversing with my subconscious, that's all," Wes said evenly.

"Sorry, Wes, I was just perfecting my totem," Mars held up her GridBook.

"May I take a look?" Wes stretched out a hand.

Mars drew back her GridBook and amusingly shook her head.

Wes gave a thin smile. "Now you're learning."

Mars paused. "Was it your idea to begin with?"

"No, it belonged to someone I met in a dream. A Pokémon, actually, gave me this idea and it stuck in my head. But it really helped me a lot," Wes closed his eyes for a bit.

"What was it you were talking to in your subconscious? Was it true?" Mars asked. "Kellyn told me about her. Why is she so important to you? What has she done in the dream that makes her so important?"

Wes took a moment to choose his response carefully. Then he said, "She's my first true friend who accompanied me in all my journeys in Orre. She was never really a part of my subconscious until I left the place. Rui's been lingering in my subconscious ever since."

"In the dream, she's just like the Rui I knew in reality; always cheerful and always offering support to me. She told me once I met up with the real Rui, her work was done and she would disappear from my dream."

Mars leaned forward. "Why can't you go back to Orre?"

Wes sighed. "Because the criminal organisation we defeated back then, Cipher, convinced the entire Orre region that I am a notorious criminal. Cipher even threatened to kill me. But Rui is there and she's waiting for me, I have to see her again."

Wes turned his head to the mazes. "How are those going along?"

* * *

"Each level will be relative to the dreamer's subconscious but will undertake the objective we're trying to do," Mars said. "The subject will progress each level making the bottom level a large HSBC bank so Lucian can bring in the Plasma Company's contract. The second level will be a mountain range, and the third level will be a hotel. The fourth will be a snowfield for the Plasma Company's location."

Mars used both of her hands to lift up one of the mazes. "Could you take a look –?"

"No, don't show me. Only the dreamer has the right to know the layouts," Wes shut his eyes tightly.

"Why not?"

"For the precaution that one of us brings in our projections. If they know the layout of the maze... that would bring us disaster," Wes said.

"You mean... in case that Cipher might try to kill you again," Mars worked it out. "Why don't you take a look? You might be able to get Rui to help you. Or is it that you can't stand seeing Rui hurt?"

Wes looked down at the floor. "I just... want to see her again. If I knew the layouts, my subconscious might figure it out by then and we'll fail."

"You won't build... for that sake? Come on, Wes! This is your mission! Why don't you let go of Rui so you can stick to reality?" Mars eyes became round.

Wes turned away from the mazes silently. "Don't worry about me. Stick to your job. But Mars, Rui knows who and where our enemies are in the dream. I can't let her go yet."

He turned to face Mars again. "I need to get to a place I call my home, that's all I care and that's what matters to me most right now."

* * *

"'I will not sign the Plasma Company's contract.' Now this is something we all know for sure an idea Lucian will refuse to take," Wes pointed at the board.

The team was gathered back at the Galactic Energy Limited building in Slateport City. Wes was now open to suggestions for the idea for inception. The board was listed with the general idea and Wes was discussing with the team about it.

"Since Lucian will surely reject it this is why we'll need to plant it very deep into his subconscious. That's how this will work."

Wes took out a marker and put it against the board. "The subconscious is motivated by emotion, not reason, right? We need to make this idea into an emotional version. I'm open to suggestions, let's hear them."

"Maybe we could bring the idea as a 'go away' concept of the idea," Lunick said. "This way he won't even bother with the Plasma Company."

Kellyn's Pachirisu jumped and shouted at Wes. "Pa-chi! Pa-chi! Pachirisu!"

The group, other than Kellyn, raised an eyebrow. Kellyn smiled.

"Pachirisu is saying that we should threat Lucian into refusing the contract to that he would never go near the Plasma Company again."

Mars and Cynthia laughed. Wes smiled and shook his head. "We need a way for Lucian to slowly change his mind about the Plasma Company. If we expose that, he might be able to convince himself to stop the contract himself."

Before anyone could say anything, Wes continued. "My point is I think that positive reactions conquer negative emotion every time. We all want this to end nicely, without any motives of regret. We need Lucian to have a positive reflection of this idea when it has been planted."

"Here's an idea;" Mars spoke up. "The common good of everyone relies on my contentment alone and not the Plasma Company's, for the Plasma Company will not show any contentment compared to mine."

Wes looked at the rest of the group. "What do you think?"

"That could work," Barry agreed.

* * *

Mars and Roark were teaching Cynthia, Lunick, Barry, and Kellyn the layouts of the dream while everyone else prepared to share a separate dream. When Mars and Cynthia were done, they headed out to test the formation of the dream.

"Remember, it's a city layout," Mars cautioned.

"It's alright. I'll do fine," Cynthia answered back.

Mars pressed the button and they went to sleep.

Barely a minute later, the rest of the team gathered near Mars and Cynthia and stuck the needles into their wrists and joined the dream...

* * *

They were in the middle of an empty street. The nine team members, including Cyrus, were listening to each other.

"On the top level, we need to start off by expressing the emotions of the HSBC first, saying; 'Everyone chooses to use HSBC because of me,'" Barry explained. "Down another level, we give; 'I find great joy in controlling this bank.'"

Barry paced around. "When we take this down to the harder levels, we say; 'The Plasma Company has no good reason why they should take my bank.' At the fourth level, we'll say; 'The Plasma Company's control of the bank will not benefit others."

Barry stopped to look at the team. "And when he pieces all the things together, we bring out the tanks at the fifth level."

"'The Plasma Company won't make others happy as much as I do to them,'" Wes finished for him. "Ingenious."

"Exactly," Barry nodded.

* * *

An hour later, the team was back at the Galactic Energy Limited's conference room. Cynthia was now presenting her part of the mission.

"So, five layers down. The dreams will crumble at the smallest disturbance," Lunick brought up the point. "You better have come up with something nice, Cynthia."

She brushed her long blonde hair back. "I've added a very concentrated sedative in this potion. It's capability of immense stability can create up to six layers of dreaming. With the team members joining this, sharing the dream will be spread evenly."

"The Pokémon will become natural partners in the dream and they will be connected to the Trainer to whom they belong to. Just place the Poke Ball into the case and they will be connected."

"I'll say this again," Cynthia reinstated. "The compound we'll be using makes a strong and focused connection between dreamers. I've taken care of that."

"What about time?" Lunick brought up. "How is brain function working in this case?"

"That's the brilliant part; normally the brain would accelerate to give the dream more time on each level," Cynthia explained. "But I customized the sedative to allow brain function to remain as the standard six-times-normal compound."

"We need nine hours, you guys hear me?" Wes stated.

"Okay... so it's two and a quarter days the first level down," Roark gave this a thought. "Just under two weeks, or thirteen and a half days the second level..."

Steven continued the math. "Roughly three months the third level, and a year and four months the fourth level... which makes..."

"Eight years," Mars said in shock.

There was a moment of silence.

"Who'd want to be stuck in a dream for eight years?"

Cynthia locked eyes with Mars and smiled. "Depending on the dream, it just might be able to accelerate the time when it's most appropriate."

Kellyn pondered before bringing up another issue. "So how do we get out of that mess? I hope you have something more civilized than hitting on the head with Umbreon."

"A kick," Wes firmly responded.

"What's a kick?" Mars brought her attention fully.

"Mars, it's – ah..." Barry thought. "Basically this."

He tipped Kellyn's chair slightly. Kellyn reacted instinctively and pulled his chair up.

"It's that feeling of falling. It – snaps you awake and out of the dream," Wes smiled.

Lunick brought up the next question. "If this sedation is meant for extended sleep, are we actually going to feel the kick?"

"That's another smart thing I added," Cynthia said proudly. "I removed excess sedative to leave the inner ear functional. This way, the dreamer will still feel the kick no matter how deep they're sleeping."

Wes got up and stretched. "The real challenge is to synchronize a kick that can break through every dream level, it can't be too early or too late to make."

"We could use the Pokémon music theme to count down the kick. We could signal a clear warning for this," Kellyn said.

"Very well," Wes brought up the music and played it.

An electric guitar version of the Pokémon main theme started playing in the room and ended.

Finally it was Steven's turn to present. "I've taken the liberty of upgrading all of your GridBooks, totems aside. Communications between these GridBooks will be much clearer to you guys and I mean the projection screens. Cursor locations will also be enhanced on the grid."

He took out a GridBook and opened it. From the first page showing the cursor grid to the totem grid and giving out further details on how they worked.

Steven closed the GridBook. "If it's nothing else, it's flashy," he said and winked at Cynthia, who blushed.

* * *

"He has no health issues currently and the contract certainly has not been signed," Barry said. "The worst part is; we don't know when he's going to sign the thing. On the whole, we need a solid nine hours."

The rest of the team had dismissed to fine-tune their objectives. Only Wes, Kellyn, Barry, and Steven had some downtime.

"Where could we get nine hours?" Kellyn asked.

"Lilycove to Sunyshore City," Cyrus recommended.

Wes and Barry looked up at Cyrus, who continued. "One of the longest trips in the district. Lucian uses this trip once a month."

"It probably follows that Lucian must have taken a private plane considering he's one of the Elite Four," Kellyn spoke. "How're we supposed to get him on a ship?"

"We schedule maintenance with his plane. Then he'd have no choice but to take a ferry," Cyrus proposed. "What do you think?"

"He'll have to be travelling first class then, otherwise he would be pretty disturbed," Barry said. "Travel cabins are on the upper deck behind the crew cabin. But you'd have to buy off the cabin and the attendants not to mention the cabin itself."

Steven turned his head to them. "I bought off a quarter of the ship line's shares."

Barry, Kellyn, and Cyrus looked at him.

"It seemed like a neat way to get free tickets..." Steven said in a timid voice.

Wes nodded and gave a small smile. "Looks like we have our nine hours."

* * *

Later that day, Mars went to investigate what Wes was up to. She spotted him hooking himself with a metallic briefcase. When he had gone to sleep, Mars snuck past him and pulled up a chair and stuck a needle into wrist too.

She fell asleep instantaneously...

* * *

Mars didn't know how she got there, but she had somehow ended up right beside Wes in a baking hot desert. Wes was not surprised that she had appeared right there in the dream.

"I saw you following me," he said casually. "No need to get angry. Let's walk."

Mars looked around. "Where are we?"

"This is just a memory from my past," Wes showed the desert. "This place is what I called my homeland. I couldn't really part from this place."

A red-haired girl jumped and wrapped her arms around Wes. "Hi, Wes! You came to drop by again!" Then she looked at Mars. "Hey..."

Rui casually walked to Mars and extended a hand. "I'm Rui, Wes' best friend. Are you a friend of Wes' too?"

Mars looked at her. Rui certainly wasn't the type to harm others. In fact, she was positively a cheerful and typical girl. Mars nervously shook her hand. "Well, Wes DOES have a lot of friends, right?"

"I've met a few of them already," Rui said. "What do you think?"

In the next second, there was a great eruption. Wes, on the alert, looked and saw a few Cipher agents walking toward his way. There was even a Groudon; the legendary terra Pokémon among the agents.

"Move it, Wes!" Rui pushed him and Mars away. "I'll hold them off!"

"No! Rui!" Wes cried out. But Rui had already broken into a run, dodging and leaping from the agents' attacks. Eventually though, Rui got hit with a Poison Tail. Its toxins digging into her knee...

Wes shook his head in disbelief. Mars shouted in his ear. "It's not real, Wes! Come on! Pull it together! She'll still be alive!"

The world was already fading to black...


	10. Departure from Lilycove

**Thank you, Dusk Mind, for taking the time to read this story!**

**Yeah, it's going to be a real struggle writing this in the future. I likely might even get lost within my own story!**

* * *

_**Chapter ten**_

Mars woke up uncomfortably, her head hurting. She turned her head to Wes, who was looking down in fretfulness.

"Wes…" Mars began.

Wes turned his head away from her. "Don't. Just don't."

She ignored him. "Don't you think that it's a little too much for you to keep watching her getting attacked by Cipher? Or is it that you always wanted to get back at Cipher?"

"This is none of your business," Wes shook his head and pulled the needle out of his wrist. "I… you won't understand."

"I get it very well, thank you," Mars made a face. "You were talking to Rui for the sake of remembering your home. Don't you know that your memories can influence our mission? Cipher can just wreck our way through… and incapacitate everything. Especially when your memories won't stop at nothing until you're down."

"Don't tell anyone what you just saw," Wes demanded. "This is personal."

"You'll have to let me come with you then," Mars requested. "Because you need someone who understands what you're going through. Your memories might destroy us all. If it's not me, you have to tell Kellyn and Lunick what I just saw."

Mars smiled grimly. "On the other hand, I know that Rui is someone who really can be trusted. But I don't want this to interfere with the mission."

A there was a knock on the door. Without bothering to wait, the door opened and Kellyn's Kirlia twirled in. "Kirlia! Kirlia!"

Mars looked at Kirlia in confusion. Then Kirlia impatiently pulled on her arm.

"It's time to go," Cyrus walked in.

"What's going on?" asked Wes. "Is it…?"

"Yep, we just heard on the news," Kellyn said. "The Plasma Company has announced the placing of the contract for turning over HSBC. Lucian is preparing to head off to Lilycove. We have to get there to catch the ship on time."

"When's the contract going to be signed?" Wes questioned.

"The day after tomorrow, in the Sinnoh Pokémon League," replied Cyrus.

"Have you packed your bags?" Wes looked for his Poké Balls.

"Everything's in progress. Except I haven't packed my own… I better go," Kellyn headed out with Grotle, Kirlia, and Pachirisu outside.

Mars tapped Wes' shoulder. "Are you going to show this to the Rangers? Are you going to take me with you? Or else I'm going to tell them myself."

Wes sighed and looked at Cyrus. "Tell Steven to get us another seat on the ship."

Cyrus took out his phone and dialed a few numbers and spoke briefly. He turned it off and nodded to Wes. "Our ride's in an hour. Better be there before Lucian does."

They left the room quickly. Mars went to pack her own bags. She actually thought of it as a way to get back home to Floaroma Town early and packed everything with her in a suitcase. She also remembered to take her Kangaskan too.

Wes went back to the Pokémon Centre for his own belongings. There wasn't too much he needed though. He had his Snag Machine, his Espeon and Umbreon, a few items in his bag, his PDA…

He flipped it open. Of course, there weren't any expected messages to receive. But Wes still chose to send a message to Rui.

_I'm coming back home tonight, Rui. Hold still for just another day._

_Wes_

After sending it, Wes closed his PDA. But what was really incredible was that the reply to him came almost immediately. Wes blinked and opened his PDA again.

_Hooray! I thought that you would come home at last! Why didn't you say so in the first place? I had to live life all alone without my dear prince…_

_Rui_

Wes could not help but chuckle.

The only thing left… was his GridBook. Wes checked to make sure it was with him. If Steven was right; communication would be perfect while they were in the dream.

When everyone was accounted for, they spent the remainder of time storing their Poke Balls in their bags. That is, except for the Rangers of course.

"Minun! Let's go!" called out Lunick. "You know we're going to miss the ship if you're taking this long! Besides, there'll be plenty of food there too!"

Lunick's Minun shook his head and jumped on his shoulder, gulping down the rest of the snack he was eating. Lunick clipped his Styler to his belt.

Kellyn had his bags packed up. He didn't forget to bring his Vatonage Styler too, not to mention his three Pokémon. Grotle helped Kellyn move his bags. Pachirisu rode on Kellyn's shoulder and Kirlia went to help out Roark with his supplies.

Steven and Cynthia brought only their bags of supplies. They were the first of the group to complete packing. Only Barry was the last to finish packing.

Within twenty minutes, everyone was packed up and ready to go to Lilycove.

* * *

Cyrus had a Galactic shuttle stationed outside the Slateport Maritime Museum. He waited patiently inside the shuttle for Wes' team.

"Let's see… the ship will leave in less than fifty minutes," Cyrus looked at his pocket watch. I wonder if they've forgotten…

Wes and Roark popped inside the shuttle. "Right on time!" Roark cheered.

It took a precious minute before Mars came aboard. "We have a hold up right in front of the shuttle," she said with a smile.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Wes raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… it's personal? Possibly?" Mars took her seat, though she failed to hide her smile.

They waited silently for whoever was going to walk in. There were voices coming outside and Wes wasn't surprised whose voices they belonged to.

"No, no… I insist. You go first!" said Cynthia.

"I'm a gentleman. So ladies first!" said Steven. "After all, we're of equal ability!"

"But you have a better reputation!" she argued.

"Ms. Cynthia; we can do this the easy way, or the hard way," Steven warned.

"HARD!" Cynthia yelled.

There was a sudden movement, and Cynthia shouted. "Hey! No, no, no! You have to go in first! Come on! Oh, Steven…"

Mars looked up and saw Steven and Cynthia come inside the shuttle together. Steven apparently carried Cynthia on his back into the shuttle with force. Cynthia was silenced by Steven's 'gallant' act.

"You took your time," Wes muttered. "You've cut off two minutes off our time. We might not even catch the ship."

"The Rangers aren't even here yet, what's the difference if we –" Cynthia started.

"WRONG! We've been waiting for you to go in the entire time!" Lunick disagreed loudly.

The rest of them, Lunick, Kellyn, Kellyn's Pokémon, and Barry were tapping their feet. They appeared very annoyed with the hold up when they got into the shuttle.

"Seriously, all this fuss over gallantry… we should've got here before they did…" Kellyn muttered. "Oh, well. How much time do we have left?"

"Forty minutes. Lucian will have yet to arrive in the Lilycove terminal," Cyrus checked his watch. "But still, earlier is better."

The shuttle lifted up and took to the skies.

"Review time!" Barry took out his touchpad.

"We want to express to Lucian the concepts of this idea. We send basic stuff in the first level and we make complex and cover-ups in the final levels," Barry read out.

Mars and Roark took out their notes. "Ranger depots will contain cabinets filled with the appropriate weapons. I've even thrown in a couple of Master Balls in there. The Rangers' Stylers will be found in there too."

After that, the rest of the time was spent explaining possible combat strategies if the projections attacked. Kellyn and Lunick assured the team that they would do their job well. Steven and Cynthia, holding one time roles, offered to help out combat if they needed to.

After a twenty minute flight, the high-rises of Lilycove, including the Department Store, were in Wes' sight. The shuttle touched down at the southern ground, on dry grass. Wes and his team unloaded their belongings quickly and headed directly for the Lily cove terminal to catch their ship. But they still had twenty minutes to spare.

"I'm checking in for the trip to Sunyshore City," Wes presented his ticket.

The receptionist looked at it and said. "Any personal baggage you have with you?"

"I only have my bag. That's all," Wes said. "Oh, and I'm travelling with Steven Stone. Just to let you know, I'm his companion."

"Oh! Then why didn't you say so? Where is he?" the receptionist asked in shock.

Steven appeared behind Wes. "I've got eight others coming with me and their tickets are all right here. Their baggage is also being loaded as we speak."

"I see," the receptionist nodded. "Any personal baggage?"

"A few more bags, that's about it," Steven motioned to Mars, Barry and Roark.

"Very well," the receptionist took the tickets and scanned them. "You're clear for entry, proceed to Entry 28, the ship will depart in fifteen minutes."

The S.S _Revenue_ was being fuelled for its journey to Sunyshore City. Cyrus was looking at the ship in approval. Wes finished up with loading his bag and walked to Cyrus to look at the _Revenue_ also.

"If I manage to do this and you don't honor our arrangement, then when I get to Gateon Port I'm pretty much doomed," Wes stated.

"Finish the job en route the journey. I will make a call on the ship, and you will pass Gateon Port into the Orre Region unharmed and unnoticed by the Orre authorities there. Furthermore, I will make a second call. Cipher will bother you no longer," Cyrus said.

"Entry 28 to Sunyshore City is ready for boarding. Please all passengers proceed in; First class passengers please board first," the intercom said.

* * *

Wes turned to pick up his bag. His team was already boarding the ship and handing their boarding tickets to the receptionist starting with Barry, then Mars, then Lunick, then Kellyn, and the rest of the team.

Wes was actually the last of the team to enter the ship. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the familiar face of Elite Four Lucian, who was surrounded by security guards pushing away nosy reporters. To Wes' relief, the guards didn't accompany Lucian into the ship, nor did they need to. Wes got his ticket back and rushed into the entry gate.

In the _Revenue_'s first class cabin, Wes and his team stored all their bags in the personal compartments and waited for departure. Kellyn's Pokémon had seats in the cabin too seeing that they didn't use Poké Balls. Only Pachirisu and Minun got to sit on the Rangers' shoulders.

"It will not be long before the ship departs," Steven told his companions. "I want all your GridBooks to be functional once we're down there and some of us HAVE to meet at the Ranger depot as a temporary rendezvous point."

"Yep, and that's where I will give the idea to Lucian when we're down there," Barry said. "This should be short and simple. Wes, is Lucian coming?"

"I saw him check in after I did, it won't be long now," Wes said.

A minute later after they had sat down, Lucian walked into the cabin and stored his bag in his compartment. Then he closed it and took his seat.

Wes gave Lucian a friendly wave. "Hey. You wouldn't happen to be HSBC's president and CEO, aren't you?"

"You could say that," Lucian shrugged. "I don't know for how much longer after this trip. Still, the one I'm handing it over to will have a much better control over it."

The ship's horn blew, and the ship slowly left Lilycove for its journey to Sunyshore City. Of course, for the team, there wasn't much time. After Lucian had a meal and started to read a few pages of his book, Wes nodded to the ship attendant who silently sent out a Slakoth.

"Slakoth! Use your Yawn attack!" she whispered.

The sloth Pokémon let out a whiff of air towards Lucian. After a minute, Lucian blinked and yawned. He put his book aside and went to sleep.

That was the call for action. Wes and the Trainers took out their bags and looked for their Poké Balls. The attendant opened a concealed cupboard to take out the metallic briefcase containing the sedative and passed it to Lunick, who laid it in the middle of the cabin and opened it.

Kellyn helped him take out and give the needles to each of the team. "Now after you guys have put the needles in your wrists, give me your Poke Balls and I'll connect them with each corresponding needle. My Pokémon will be last, of course."

Wes gave him the Poké Balls holding Espeon and Umbreon. Kellyn looked for Wes' connection and, after connecting Wes' sedative with them, placed the Poke Balls inside the sedative case. The same went for Barry's, Roark's, Mars', Cynthia's, Steven's, and Cyrus' Pokémon.

The only exceptions were the Rangers' Pokémon. Kellyn took a connected needle from Lunick's sedation and gently inserted the needle into Minun's wrist. Minun shivered a little. Then Kellyn finally took out four needles for him and his Pokémon. First, he had to put the needle in him to ensure that the sedative was connected. Second, he used the other three needles, separately attached with Kellyn's sedation, to Grotle, Kirlia, and Pachirisu.

Finally, Kellyn connected the last needle with Lucian's wrist and took his seat.

"Everyone connected?" Kellyn finalised. "Organised? Perhaps hungry?"

"I don't know about you, Kellyn, but Minun sure is…" Lunick was quietly watching his Partner Pokémon happily munching away on a pile of peanuts.

"MINUN!" Wes shook Minun's hand. "You have one minute to finish eating. We are on a very tight schedule, you know."

Minun looked up at Wes. "Me…?" Minun then swallowed the peanuts in three big bites. Minun burped a bit and nodded to Wes.

Mars looked at the metallic briefcase. The first class attendant had kneeled in front of the case and had her finger placed on the button.

"Ready?" Wes asked the team. "Then let's do this."

The flight attendant pressed down on the button quickly. Wes and his team went to sleep followed by Kellyn's and Lunick's Pokémon and though not visible the Trainer's Pokémon joined them after.

Finally, Mars felt the heavy feeling of the sedative going into her head. It was a head aching feeling that made her mind shut down and forced her to sleep…

* * *

**And now... the mission begins.**


	11. Dream: A Bright Team in Dark Skies

**Pokemon and Inception belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

_**Chapter eleven**_

The dark skies were extremely clear over a gargantuan sized city towering over a slightly steep but low cliff. A young woman, with distinctive blond hair, dressed in black and high heels, walked into the city gates. She was accompanied by a man dressed in a suit.

"Hmm… let's see, where are they?" Cynthia said.

"Hmm? Oh, they're probably in the depot by now," Steven reasoned. "Otherwise, they'd be looking for us. Or worse, they might all be separated. We might as well look for the depot and send out our Pokémon."

"Good idea," Cynthia agreed and threw her Poke Ball. "Garchomp! Let's do it!"

"You too Metagross!" Steven shouted at the same time.

Cynthia's quick Dragon type Pokémon burst out and walked with her Trainer. Steven advanced with Metagross cautiously, careful not to rouse the projections.

"You know what? We can't find them," Cynthia shook her head.

"Do you want to use communication right now?" Steven suggested.

"Eh... why not?" Cynthia pulled out her GridBook.

"Careful," Steven cautioned. "If the projections can somehow get a hold of that, they could track down all of us. Just keep it out of reach of the guys."

Cynthia flicked the pages to the communications grid. Using touch screen technology made from Steven, she selected to contact Wes.

The GridBook flared a flash of light. It projected a fairly large screen made of energy. It showed the face of Wes. The projections centered their attention on the GridBook.

"Nothing to see here!" Steven spread his arms and pushed the people away. "Move along, move along… Metagross, give me a hand, will you?"

Metagross distanced the people away and fired a Meteor Mash to the ground. The projections glanced at the twosome and went on their own business.

"Hey… where are you guys?" Cynthia asked. "We're a little lost."

"We are NOT lost!" Steven protested and pushed her aside to look at Wes. "Cynthia's just a little off, if you know what I mean."

Cynthia raised a fist. Wes sighed and shook his head. "The entire team is gathered right now with me. We figured that you two, of all of the team, would be stuck. Particularly…" Wes slowed down for emphasis. "When it's the two of you."

Cynthia's face reddened. She put her hands over her mouth and tried very hard not to laugh. Steven's face flushed with embarrassment but he tried to keep it cool.

Cynthia was laughing so hard and she grasped onto Steven's arm so tightly that he felt like it was about to me crushed. Focussed on that, he was only half-aware that he was being touched by Cynthia, the most beautiful young woman he had ever met…

"Hey! Did you catch that? We at the ground of the tallest skyscraper! Hear me?" said an annoyed Wes. "If you're not bothering it's your loss! And we can't have losses!"

Cynthia broke away from Steven and finally caught wind that she was holding onto Steven. Her face retained and flushed a bright pink. "Sorry…"

"Sorry for what?" Steven tilted his head. "It's okay."

"Anyway…" Wes was bowing his head in a manner of amusement. "We'll see you there. Remember! Time is of the essence!"

* * *

In the opposite direction, Wes and the rest of the team waved to the twosome. It was hard to believe that they met up just like that. Cynthia led them to a door and behind it showed another section of the city.

"He'll be looking around for a transport at this time of day," Wes said. "Let's find one for ourselves too. Roark, did you include a good transport in the layout?"

"Oh… Mars and I designed something even better than that," Roark's eyes glimmered. "I promise that you won't regret going in this thing."

Incredibly, Lucian was looking for a transport. Except that right at that moment he had plenty of downtime (or did he? The downtime he had right now was merely from a dream). He was seated at a park reading a book.

Wes looked at his right arm. The Snag Machine wasn't there. That meant that they would have to go to the Ranger depot's cabinet to obtain it. If his weapon wasn't there, Kellyn's and Lunick's Stylers would certainly wouldn't.

As the moon continued to give its lengthily cloud-free light, the team walked into a giant mall. This mall in fact was not a mall on the outside but the inside was a super-spacious white room with practically nothing. In the middle of the room was a large, black armoured vehicle with fortified steel plates and a reinforced windshield. From how Roark put it, as the designer, it was a cross between a low heighted bus and a tank.

"So we're going to abduct Lucian with this?" Cynthia questioned. "What if he recognises me? I might compromise the mission this way…" Cynthia hadn't thought of that possibility, until now.

"Relax," Barry said. "That's why you're going to stay here Cynthia."

Cynthia bit her lip. "You'll be back right?"

"Yep, and by that time I'll be starting the purpose of this mission," Barry smiled and climbed upstairs.

At the top of the 'mall', was the Ranger depot. Since the projections down on the ground paid no attention to looking upward, the depot was virtually invisible. The team entered the depot quickly.

"Okay…" Wes looked around. "Kellyn and Lunick; when we've gathered what need, I need the two of you to stay watch at the top of the depot until we come back with Lucian."

"Will do," Lunick nodded.

At the back of the depot; Wes opened the steel cabinet containing weapons. He took out his Snag Machine and felt the familiar clasp onto his arm. Kellyn took out the Vatonage Styler and attached it to his right wrist. Lunick didn't bother with clipping his Styler to his belt and held a firm grip to it.

"Let's do some recon," Kellyn told his companions. Pachirisu jumped happily and with Grotle and Kirlia followed Kellyn, Lunick, and Minun up the escalator to the depot's lookout point. Lunick opened a drawer and took out a pair of binoculars.

"Truth is told that I've had my time doing recon," Lunick sighed. "I just can't see myself doing more of it. I'd rather be out in the field than doing this. Come on! I've had my time! You hear?"

"Don't tell me…" Kellyn turned to him with a grin. "You're just annoyed that you can't see Solana for the next two days, right?"

"What?!" Lunick stared at Kellyn. "How – But – WHAT kind of question is that?!"

"And eventually," Kellyn was enjoying himself. "You'll want to hold her in your arms again. Personally, I think…"

"Wait a minute! How did you find out about that?!" Lunick was humbled.

"Heh, the Almia Times keeps up a good reputation of news from Fiore too. I saw you in the paper carrying Solana to Ringtown," Kellyn smiled. "I have to admit; after seeing you in a gentleman manner like that, I figured that after all the tough missions you do, you always had a soft side. Like me!"

Lunick, face red from embarrassment and laughter, clapped his hand on Kellyn's shoulder. "Well! Uh… guilty as charged!"

Kellyn though said nothing more, smiled and scanned the area with the binoculars.

"Let's see… they're now moving out. There's the tank-bus.

"Hey, Lunick. Can you tell Wes that Lucian's relocated? Keep an eye on him."

Lunick moved his binoculars to the wavy-haired Lucian. "I have an impression that he's a tough mind to crack. Look at him! Reading that book non-stop…"

He moved his vision to where Lucian was heading. "He's moving to something bigger. Think I should tell Wes?"

"I just told you to do those seconds ago!" Kellyn chuckled.

"Whatever you say, Kellyn, whatever you say…" Lunick pulled out his GridBook.

* * *

Mars shifted uncomfortably in the armoured tank-bus. The other members looked just the same in this dark machine. Steven was at the wheel driving down the streets.

"Where's Lucian supposed to be again?" Steven brought the tank-bus to a halt.

"Lunick says he's moving from a park to a plaza right now," Wes closed his GridBook. "Full throttle, if possible. Time is running out."

"Are you kidding me, Wes?" Roark said in a way which made the team look in his direction. "We're in a dream! Anything is practically possible!"

"Settle down, back there!" Steven waved an impatient hand. "Prepare to unload in a minute or two!" And Steven hit the acceleration to the brink of its capable speed.

The tank-bus roared its way through traffic. Thanks to Mars, the road was three lanes wide on each side enabling instant transit anywhere without worries of congestion. The projections looked at the tank-bus for a long minute before carrying on with their own business. The plaza where Lucian was supposed to be was quite a bit away…

"Hmm… where to go now…?" Lucian said to himself. "I might as well keep reading, the bank will be open in a while."

Lucian sat down at a plaza bench and kept reading his book.

In the next minute, there was a slightly silent engine running through the plaza. Startled, Lucian looked up to see the cause.

At the plaza's entrance was an armoured… what? It looked like a tank, based on its rigid black shape. But at the same time the length and low height of the machine made it look rather like a bus. There were no windows, which aroused Lucian's suspicions. So he went to investigate what it was.

In the second that he approached the black vehicle, the door opened to reveal a teen with blond hair and a man with blue hair. The man took out a Poke Ball to release a Gyarados. "You're coming with us," the man said.

Lucian took a step back, only to bump into a Torterra. Tortrra lashed out a vine, grasped Lucian with it and threw him into the black tank-bus. Lucian collided with a soft seat, which prevented him from being knocked out. Still, he thought to himself. _Now what? To think that the bank is about to open the last thing I need is being kidnapped._

He looked around himself. There were at least six others with him inside the tank-bus. Seeing so many others who were strangers, he felt out of place.

Lucian turned to the person behind him; it was the blond teen. "Can you tell me where we're going? I'm going to be late for work."

"You're not going anywhere," said the teen. "Just give us a minute."

For Lucian, he had had enough. He took out his book and tossed it to Barry. "This book is imported specially from the mountain ranges. Just take it and I'll be off."

In an instant, Lucian felt the familiar sense of Sleep Powder. Why? Why was this happening to him? He drifted off to sleep.

"He's down, right?" said Barry.

"Sleeping but not sedated," Roark confirmed. "It's temporary until we wake him up."

Wes turned to Mars. "Think you can handle it?"

"Oh, I'm just –"

There was a sudden explosion from the outside that violently pushed the tank-bus aside. Alert, Wes got to the driver's seat next to Steven. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, what do you think?" Steven reared the car.

Then Wes saw her. Rui, alone outside, was on the run from Shadow Pokémon. "Mars! Give me an explanation!" Wes returned to the passengers.

Mars raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"Rui's outside!" Wes lowered his voice. "I… I don't know…"

"This wasn't in the design…!" Mars staggered surprisingly. "Pay attention to what's going on right now, Wes! Think of Rui later!"

But that didn't end. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake tossing the tank-bus around. Steven, now alert, maneuvered carefully and drove forward.

His GridBook sounded. It was Kellyn. "Recon! Steven, there's a barricade in front of your position! You're closed off from heading in that direction! Fall back to the depot!"

To his disbelief, as Kellyn said, there was a roadblock in front of the tank-bus. Projections came out from all sides of the street with Bronzong and Crobat and many more hostile Pokémon. Steven brought the tank-bus to a halt and turned his head back. "We're under attack! We've got a situation and a fight in progress! Some of you guys hold the line while I transport others back to –!"

A violent whirlwind began to tear up the road from the Crobat. Roark and Barry jumped out of the tank-bus and sent out their Pokémon. Roark used Rock Throw indefinitely against the projections. Barry did the same with several Leaf Storms.

Several Alakazam made their way past the traffic to the tank-bus. Hyper Beams ready to fire at the vehicle.

"Torterra! Frenzy Plant!"

"Rampardos! Zen Headbutt!"

Barry's Torterra fired away with one of the most powerful Grass moves known to the world of Pokémon. The ground tore upward with deadly plants lashing themselves to the Alaska am. Roark's Rampardos tunneled past the plants and made contact with the remainder of the Alaska am, knocking them away.

But they were just one Pokémon too slow.

"Barry! Take cover!" Roark yelled.

Barry instinctively dropped to the ground and watched in despair when the last Alakazam fired its deadly move…

BAM.

The tank-bus rocketed away to a nearby building. The impact of the crash forced Wes and the others to collide with the bus' sides. Mars screamed. Steven tried desperately to retain control of the tank-bus. Lucian was knocked unconscious.

"Everyone alright?" Wes coughed out.

"I'm good here," Steven said.

"Same here," Mars shuddered. "Lucian is knocked out."

Her GridBook sounded. Mars pulled it out and turned it to the communications. The projector produced light to form a screen made entirely of light in front of her. It showed the face of Kellyn and his Pachirisu.

"Are you guys okay?" Kellyn looked around the tank-bus. "No damage, I hope."

Mars reported to Kellyn about the tank-bus' condition and the team. "Say... how does the tank look from the outside? Any critical damage?"

Kellyn scratched his head. "Well… the only thing you guys have suffered most is a large dent on the right side. Otherwise I think you're fine. Mars, tell Steven to return to the depot quickly. You've got a Golem army headed your way."

"Got it," Mars used her hand to squish the screen off. "Steven! Head back to the depot! Quickly!"

Steven shook his head. "We're going to have to go at a relatively slow pace. Or else this tank might blow apart. Fortunately for us…"

He flicked a few switches and pulled down a bar. The computer made a confirmation sound. _Decoy mode activated_.

"This will buy us some time," Steven nodded and turned the tank back to the depot. "But first, let's pick up Barry and Roark."

The door opened for the two Trainers. Cyrus got out and helped them get in.

Somehow, a torrent of toxic liquid was dumped on Cyrus. Barry recognised it as a Sludge Bomb attack and looked up to see some Muk from the top of a skyscraper. "Torterra!" Barry pointed up.

Barry's Pokémon nodded and unleashed an Earthquake directly at the building. The structures of that one building collapsed and fell over to the next building, which fell over to the next…

"Torterra!" Barry shouted again. This time, Torterra blasted a Leaf Storm in the direction of the collapsing buildings, pushing it away from the city and off the cliff of the city. The structure fell into the water below with a crash. He took out his GridBook. "Lunick! Are there any more hostiles nearby?"

"None that I can tell. Not on the rooftops, not on the ground for a radius of about a kilometre," Lunick replied back. "Other than that Golem army Kellyn mentioned to Mars just now, you have an all clear. Anyway, fall back as quickly as you guys can."

"We hear you," Barry called back his Torterra. "We'll be there soon."

Barry closed his GridBook and walked back to the tank-bus.

Wes and Steven got outside to help the ambushed Cyrus. The employer was stuck to the ground in sticky slime. With Espeon and Umbreon by his side, Wes carefully extracted Cyrus from the poison. The thing that worried Wes most was if the poison…


	12. Concepts to Inception

_**Chapter twelve**_

The team was now under pursuit from the projections again. Barry and Roark carefully attended to Cyrus while Steven aggressively drove his way through the dark streets of the dangerous city. Wes opened a sealed up and locked hatch on the top of the bus to let out his Pokémon.

"Espeon! Use Psybeam! Umbreon! Screech!" Wes ordered. "Each of your pick your target, I don't care who it is! Cut off anyone who's chasing us!"

Espeon and Umbreon obeyed without question. They fired their moves and actually managed to tear out a few streetlights towards the army of Bronzong. As Wes expected, it had no effect whatsoever.

But that action of his was deliberate.

The streetlights rebounded off the Bronzong and trailed away. Within fractions of a few precious seconds Espeon fired another Psybeam onto the ground near the Bronzong, spraying debris on them. Umbreon took the opportunity created to use multiple Screech attacks at the Bronzong. Very soon, half the pursuing Pokémon were knocked out.

"Keep it up!" Steven made a hard right turn. "We can still make it!"

Cyrus choked. Barry looked at him and analyzed his condition; Cyrus was sweating and he was breathing hard.

"He's pretty weak, Wes!" Barry called out to him. Roark took out a few tools to see what he could do to sustain Cyrus.

Wes' GridBook sounded. He took it out and pulled out the bright image of Kellyn.

"Uh… Wes?" Kellyn scratched his head. "You've got several Porygon2 heading your way. What are you doing down there?"

"Kellyn, we've got Lucian. We're coming back immediately," Wes said quickly. "We've got more pressing concerns; Cyrus is wounded or something…"

"Then you'd better create a diversion to sneak away," Kellyn though out. "Actually, I think it'd be smarter if I helped you. Give me a second."

Kellyn used a few sections of his Styler. "Okay, you've got plenty of dark streets enough to make an effective getaway. I'll see what we've got in this depot. Kellyn out."

Wes snapped the GridBook shut and tried to look outside. _Hmm… wonder how Kellyn will pull this off? What will he do…?_

He took his mind off what the Ranger was going to do and focused on Espeon and Umbreon once again. "Keep it up, guys! Do it for the team! Do it for…"

Wes paused. He was about to utter out 'Rui', but is this going to work at all? Wow, why did he choose to embark on such an impossible task?

However, by that time Espeon had taken a severe hit by a psychic blast from a Bronzong. Wes immediately called back both his Pokémon and sat on his seat again.

"Steven! How far are we from the Ranger depot?!" Wes called out.

"We need about a few precious minutes to get there!" Steven called back. "It won't be long now! Say, have you cut off the Bronzong yet?"

"You could say that," Wes breathed. "Have of them have been knocked out. But as Kellyn warned there's a Golem army heading our way. Get back to the depot, double time."

"Just when you said you defeated the Bronzong…" Steven muttered. "Are you sure they won't be pursuing us now?"

"I'm pretty sure, or else they would have caught up to us by now. Bottom line is that we've caused a huge delay to them. It won't be long before they get up again," Wes pointed forward. "Get to the depot quickly, use the alleyways. They're dark enough."

Steven nodded. He gave a sharp turn and allowed the tank-bus to disappear into the night.

* * *

"Okay! Pachirisu! Grotle! Let's do it!" Kellyn aimed to the sky. "Minun! Do your part too!"

As this was a dream, the Pokémon could do things that reality couldn't. Grotle created a twisted stalk out of the ground and Pachirisu generated electricity to electrify the stalk. Eventually, Minun added more power to the stalk and fired electricity to split the stalk.

Lunick watched the stalk break apart. He could tell that Kellyn's plan was working since the stalk had already grown to the height of a small tower. Now it looked more like an overgrown tree. But he could tell that Kellyn had strategically placed the stalk in an area where the projections outside couldn't tell where it was coming from.

Now all they could to do was wait for the plant to spread out to where the tank-bus was. But really, there wasn't a lot of time to spare in the dream. Kellyn and Lunick took out their binoculars and searched for it with amazing speed. Pachirisu and Minun were still fuelling the plant with power.

"Kellyn… are there any potential risks to using this method?" Lunick looked at the dark sky.

"Give me the right aim and everything will go _almost_ fine," Kellyn watched the stalk stretch its way to the streets below.

"Almost…" Lunick muttered. "Let's hope it works."

Kellyn lifted the binoculars to his eyes and pointed where Grotle was to aim the overcharged stalk of intensely focused power.

"Keep it up to the right, Grotle. The tank-bus is still a few blocks off," he said.

Grotle nodded. Kirlia simply sat down and watched.

* * *

"Wes! Cyrus doesn't seem to be getting any better!" Barry called out. "How much farther are we from the depot?!"

"We've almost there!" Wes looked out of the hatch. "Just one more block!"

In an instant, a large plant appeared above the tank-bus and shocked all of the Pokémon pursuing Wes and his team. Fortunately, the plant didn't seem to have any aim for any part of the tank-bus. Instead it seemed to only act as a mobile shield and camouflage while allowing the transfer into the depot. Better yet the Golem army Kellyn had mentioned earlier had been wiped out by the destructive web of stalks from the sky.

The mall doors opened silently in the dark and the tank-bus came to a silent halt. The first thing done was Wes and Roark carrying Cyrus out and laid him down near the wall. Cynthia, after waiting a while for them to come back, had taken out medical supplies from the Ranger depot and attended to Cyrus. Steven and his Metagross came out holding Lucian and carried him to a separate room.

Wes gave out orders to everyone else. "Okay, we need to get our supplies and objectives done as quickly as possible. We can't afford to have the projections close in on us."

"What happened?" Cynthia asked him.

"I think Cyrus has been poisoned," Wes looked at Cyrus. He was shuddering and his skin was pale with several dark spots on his skin. "Cynthia, I need you and Steven to do some surveillance outside for a few minutes. If a projection does so much as move a trash can, you need to hold out a little and retreat back inside."

"Got it," Cynthia affirmed. She took Steven by the wrist and dragged him to the wall. "We've got a big job to do. You've got Metagross?"

"Ready when you are," Steven smiled and started to gather their things.

While Cynthia and Steven were preparing, Wes threw a scolding at Kellyn and Lunick. "What happened?! Those projections are unnatural, you hear me?! They're on the attack on us! Can you explain that?! Those projections are trained! Why?!"

Mars looked at them. "How could they have possibly been trained?!"

Lunick took a deep breath and explained. "Lucian's had an extractor to teach him how to defend his own mind. So his subconscious has themselves armed and ready to attack. That, combined with Lucian's fortified intelligence has his mind practically locked."

"So why didn't you tell me in the first place?!" Wes glared.

"Well, we unquestionably weren't prepared to be ambushed were we?" Kellyn raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on he's dying! What do you make of that?!" Wes yelled.

Barry walked over with his Torterra and readied a bunch of leaves. Wes instinctively sent out Espeon and used Psychic to hold Torterra in place. "What are you doing?!" Wes shouted at him.

"I'm going to wake him up!" Barry said as if it were obvious. "Just use a Leaf Storm and he'll be blasted away to reality."

"No! It's not going to work," Wes shook his head.

"Of course it will, if you die in a dream you wake up!" Barry shook his head.

"No! This case is different…" Wes trailed off, he saw Rui near the flight of stairs leading to the Ranger depot. He would talk to her later.

"What do you mean?" Barry said calmly.

"We're sedated," Cynthia had been listening in to their argument. "The compounded sedative is too powerful for us to wake ourselves up. We have to wait for the sedative to wear out before we can get up again. Don't try getting yourself killed right now."

"Great, so what would happen if any of us does die?" Barry said.

"We drop into limbo," Wes said unhappily. "That's what will remain of us."

"You've got to be kidding me! No. No! We can't have that!" Lunick stared.

"Limbo?!" Mars was alarmed. "What's that supposed to be?!"

"The space of the in-between," Kellyn kept his voice normal. "It's nothing; just undisturbed subconscious that sets the divider and space between reality and a dream. There's nothing you can do… your mental self is basically trapped. It has nothing except from what might be left from anyone sharing the dream who's been there, that means _you_, Wes."

Cynthia sighed. "It could take up to a century, a hundred years, for the sedation to wear off. Maybe even more than that if we die, it could be infinite! And then somehow we can finally wake up from the thing."

There was a moment of silence.

Barry shook his head and glared at Wes. "Great, just great. Here we are, battling Lucian's mind for a hundred years and if we die we'll drop into limbo until we finally blow ourselves up and screw our minds."

Cynthia and Steven went outside to do their surveillance while the rest of the team carried Cyrus to a metallic white table and placed him down there.

"How are we supposed to cure him now?" Roark stated. "Anyone got any Pecha berries? Antidote of any kind, perhaps?"

Mars grimaced. "Afraid not. Why would I put them in the first place?"

Lunick grabbed Wes' arm. "Well? Could you explain these dangers we were going to be dealing with and didn't tell us? Wes, it's not like you."

"Danger was out of the question in this there weren't meant to be any Pokémon wars, or else you might have seen them yourself. Didn't I tell you to examine him?" Wes retorted.

Cyrus was looking worse now, and he choked several more times. The poison was getting to him.

Kellyn motioned for Lunick to let go of Wes, but he didn't. Instead, Kellyn went up to Wes and quietly asked him. "What are you hiding, Wes?"

"There wasn't any alternative to get down five levels," Wes finally said.

Lunick tightened his grip on Wes' arm and whispered bitterly. "So?! You've said you've never done inception before. But was this meant to be an experiment, and we're your test subjects –"

"I'm doing what I can do to get back to my best friend, that's what I'm focused on," Wes clenched his fist. "Any problem with that?"

That was it. Barry turned his back on him and sat down on a chair. "So you really did know about the violence we were about to encounter. You brought us into a battlefield without any hope of escaping? Brilliant, Wes, I applaud to you for that, we're basically just screwed."

* * *

Steven and Cynthia sat down on a bench outside the empty mall. The Ranger depot was carefully disguised above them as a monument on the building's top. Cynthia noticed that the projections were behaving rather more aggressively. She moved closer to Steven.

"What's going on with them? They seem to be moving a lot faster."

"They sense that Lucian is held captive by us," Steven muttered. "Which means they'll be looking for him and not to mention the dreamer, me. If they manage to kill me… that might wreck everything."

Cynthia looked at Steven. "So what do we do now?"

Steven brought her face to his. "Here, kiss me."

She blushed and leaned closer to Steven's mouth, her own lips slightly parted. Then they kissed each other for a few seconds, something the two of them enjoyed. When they let each other go, Cynthia turned her attention to the projections. Some had lost interest in them, others still stared at them suspiciously. "Some of them are still looking at us," Cynthia sighed.

"Yeah, it was worth a shot," Steven nodded.

"Do you really think so?" Cynthia kept her gaze away from the projections. "So why not do it again?" she rested her head on Steven's shoulder.

Steven tilted his head on Cynthia's. "Maybe another time when we've given our report to Wes," Steven smiled lightly. But he kissed her anyway and the two of them left discreetly for the Ranger depot.

* * *

Inside the empty mall, all the eyes were on Wes. "So it's over, we've lost," Barry said. "There's no way out, and we're surrounded by Lucian's killing machines."

"No!" It's not over yet!" Wes shouted. "There's still hope, I know it. We just have to continue on with the job and keep going deeper into the levels. When we've done what we can we get out using the kick like we said in the first place as quickly as possible."

Barry turned around. "Forget it. That will just raise the stakes. We'd have to complete the job alive and at the same time trying to keep Cyrus alive. I'm calling it quits."

Wes armed his Snag Machine. "We have just over two days on this level and I highly doubt that any of us could survive that long holding out against Lucian's forces. I can assure you that each and every one of us is going to die so we might as well continue on with the mission anyway."

Steven and Cynthia burst into the mall. "They're getting closer or at the very least discovered who we are; we have to move in ten minutes."

"Pachi! Pachirisu!" squeaked Kellyn's Pokémon. Kellyn raised an eyebrow.

"What's Pachirisu saying?" Roark said.

Lunick chuckled. "I think Pachirisu is pointing at their faces," and the team looked.

Cynthia's cheeks were enveloped in a bright pink and she touched her lips carefully. "Would you believe… a Pokémon Champion's conversation?"

Wes coughed. "I suppose so… you must have kissed."

Steven was holding Cynthia's hand. "What makes you say that?"

The entire team applauded quickly. "Congratulations!" Steven and Cynthia smiled.

Wes looked at his watch. "Okay… now down to business. Let's go wake Lucian up. Barry, you'll need to come too."

* * *

Lucian woke up in a dark room. He couldn't see nor could he do anything. It occurred to him that his wrist was being held in a shackle, so he couldn't get anywhere either.

The next thing that happened: a bright flashlight shone onto him and so was temporarily blinded by the light. A voice came out of the darkness.

"So… Lucian, the president of HSBC… we require some of your services, are you willing?"

Lucian shifted. "I've got plenty of contacts who will know where I am. This should be simple."

"This WON'T be simple!" said the voice. "In your head office, you kept some key contract papers of yours about turning over the bank to someone else. So where are those papers of yours for the transmission?"

"You won't get anything from me," Lucian simply said. "I never kept any such papers in my office. I just keep my business stuff and all those Hall of Fame records in there. Any more to come?"

Another voice came in. "But you _should_ have the papers at least, so where are they?"

"I have no idea."

The voice spoke in a more serious tone. "We'd like you to meet someone who might make you change your mind. Are you up for it?"

"Oh, and who might that be?"

"Give me a minute," said the voice.

* * *

Roark took the time to examine Lucian's book. "Imported from a faraway land, there's nothing we can really use it for. Let alone the writing inside it."

"Are you sure?" Barry sat down in front of a mirror. "Let me take a look."

Roark tossed the book to Barry and he opened it. Barry flipped through most of the pages and came to the back of the book; there were just a few blank pages. But the odd thing about it was there was a worn out but neatly written sentence at the start.

_I've always loved to spearhead the bank with my many own reasons, but only one stands out from all of them._

Wes reappeared with the team. Barry waved a hand and held out the book to Wes with the page opened to where Barry was reading.

"Do you think we could build on this?"

"It's sufficient," Wes read it quickly. "I'll let you do the building."

"Got it, anyway…" Barry turned to the mirror.

"You've got half an hour to make this work; time is the essence."

Barry turned to stare at Wes. "Are you serious? You're expecting me to complete six hours' worth of forger work in half an hour? That's harsh, Wes," and Barry sent out his Torterra.

Wes said. "Cyrus definitely wasn't meant to be poisoned in the process."

"Good point," Barry looked at the mirror and focused. "Keep my Torterra from Lucian, alright?"

So Barry took out his other Poké Ball holding his Ditto and he sent it out. "Let's do this like we practiced, right Ditto?"

Ditto nodded and began the transformation. Barry attempted to mimic his Pokémon.

Wes blinked. At one blink, he was looking at Barry. The next blink, Barry was in the mirror and now was looking at Wallace, the Hoenn Champion.

"Let's go," Wes escorted Wallace into the black room.

* * *

Lucian waited patiently for who might be coming in. The door creaked open and two more people walked in. One of them was being held by what looked like a Pokémon Trainer, but he couldn't tell. Then the Pokémon Trainer guided the flashlight holder outside and shut the door closed.

"You have half an hour," said the Pokémon Trainer and he left.

Lucian tried to visualise who might be held captive with him. But the room was so dark he couldn't. So he asked.

"Who's there?"

"Lucian… is that you?"

Lucian stopped. That voice only belonged to someone he knew very well… but it was none other than –

"Wallace! What are you doing here?" he exclaimed.

Wallace smirked. "I've been held here for a week now, and I've just got enough time to listen in on these guys. They want you to break up the contract between you and the Plasma Company and they want the papers for your handover of the bank. They reckoned I kept the contract papers being your advisor but of course they had no clue that the papers were really with you, the CEO."

"Yeah, but oh well. I never kept any papers in my office –" Lucian started.

"What?! But – but you were supposed to have kept the papers there! What happened to them?"

Lucian pondered a moment. "I have no idea, I suppose the Plasma Company must have held onto them but I certainly know they're in good hands."

Wallace took a few seconds for that to sink in. "I recall giving you those papers myself. Don't you remember what I told you? Those papers are critical for our bank's success when we turn over HSBC to the Plasma Company. But what I'm trying to tell you is everyone chooses to use HSBC because of your works. Why should you give it to them and for what reason? You never told me."

"It happened one day…" Lucian said slowly. "I found out that my efforts to serve all of the Pokémon regions were ineffective. Although there are many people who like HSBC a lot, I figure that many more will take HSBC into account when the Plasma Company comes into power. They told me their control will allow Pokémon and humans to bond more closely, and that's just the thing this world needs, right?"

"Yeah, but…" Wallace began. "I've been getting comments from many HSBC users lately, they told me that they'd love to have you remain as the CEO of the bank. In fact, one of them told me they'd be absolutely pleased to see you stay. Another told me it was because of _you_ that they chose to use this bank. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Indeed, but I think the Plasma Company's right about one thing; my efforts are no good for the majority of the world, don't you think?"

Wallace shook his head. "My point is, Lucian, the people are happy just the way you're controlling the bank now. That's all I'm saying. I'm telling you, if we don't tell them where those transition papers are they are going to kill us. Do you have any idea what may depend on it?"

It occurred to Lucian that he never heard too much about the papers, and asked. "So what are those papers about?"

Wallace took a breath. "Those transition papers developed by HSBC… should you give them to the Plasma Company, will turn over the bank to them. But that's only on one half of the papers."

"One half?! How much further can you get?" Lucian said in confusion.

"The other half of the papers gives you the option to decline the Plasma Company's proposal. From what I've read about them, they can assist your way to helping the people. That would be a good reason to take them, right?" Wallace shrugged.

Lucian shook his head. "Whatever. The Plasma Company drew up a good plan for me of how their ideas surpass mine. An example? I've told you already about Pokémon bonds, didn't I?"

"So what else did they tell you?" Wallace leaned.

"That's classified information," Lucian said. "But I tell you Wallace that if you actually met them you would get the picture."

The conversation was clearly over; Wallace got up quietly and secretly knocked on the wall.


	13. Memory: Blackmail

_**Chapter thirteen**_

Mars knew something was troubling her; and she had to find out. She decided to ask; since he had the time to do so.

"What Kellyn said… you've been to limbo, right? How'd you end up there?" she asked.

Wes sighed in a manner of thought. "A long time ago… Two long years, in fact…"

* * *

_Cipher had not given up even when Wes had defeated them at Realgam Tower. They even posed to take a shot at capturing Lugia when Wes had left the region!_

_ Wes returned to Orre, arriving at Gateon Port. In his own heart, he knew he had the power to permanently disband Cipher for good, and that was his purpose for returning to Orre. However, it was also a place Wes thought of as the next thing to home._

_ He found his old and massive speeder bike he used to ride back in the days of Cipher's reign of terror. Even after so many years of being concealed in an underground warehouse in Gateon Port, it still appeared to be in good shape, apart from a little rust on the side seat. Wes took out Espeon and Umbreon and let them sit on the side seat. He fired up the engines and roared to, contradictory to the desert climate of Orre, the lush village of Agate._

_He parked his bike next to a waterfall outside Agate Village and walked up the gentle green hill to a particular house. He knocked on the door and walked straight in._

"_Rui?" Wes said as he walked._

_A red haired girl suddenly jumped and wrapped her arms around him in a crushing hug. Wes choked but soon smiled at her._

"_Rui… how many times do you have to hug me like that…?"_

_Rui grinned and released him. "I never thought you'd come back! Say, what _are_ you doing back in Orre? You can't miss me _that_ much, right?"_

_Wes pulled his coat straight. "I think I've found a way to disperse Cipher, for good, but I might need you to help me just one more time."_

"_Oh, sure!" Rui said enthusiastically. "What are we going to do?"_

"_Um…" he hesitated. "It might be a bit far-fetched for you, and I rather not have you too involved in what I'm about to do. You only have to give them a little of a distraction."_

"_Okay," Rui nodded. "So, do you have a clue where Cipher might be?"_

"_No clue."_

"_That's alright, I still think they might be in that abandoned lab they seized. Know what I mean?" Rui tapped her head. "The odd, pyramid shaped contraption. When are you going?"_

_Wes tipped his eye goggles. "I'm going tonight, and I'll be waiting for you at the front of Agate."_

* * *

"I never told Rui what I was about to do," Wes solemnly said to Mars. "I knew that all I had to do was infiltrate their minds and… extract the secrets that they'd held on… this way, I could have simply ended them right there, with that one idea. But I came to realise that I was going to do something much more harmful… to myself."

Mars shook her head. "So what did you do eventually? What happened? And how did Rui fit into your plan?"

Wes sighed.

* * *

_Later, when night fell upon Orre, Rui skipped her way to the traditionally cut log bridge at the base of Agate. As she expected, Wes had his speeder bike at the ready outside._

"_Ready when you are," Wes smiled thinly. But Rui, having known Wes for at least two years, took it as one of his typical smiles. She jumped into the bike pod and they took off to the northeastern part of Orre in the dark._

_On the way, Rui still had no idea what she was going to do._

"_I need you to merely help me break into the interior of Cipher's lair. You lure away the guards and the Cipher Peons away from me, while I find the remaining heads of Cipher. When I'm in, I want you to grab my bike and get away from the Cipher lair as far as possible," Wes instructed. "I'll come back for you when I'm done, it shouldn't take an hour."_

"_But… Wes!" Rui shook her head. "That's crazy! You've never been there often, how would you know your way around? I should help you all the way. Just like old times!"_

_He considered what Rui was thinking about, and made up his mind. "Okay, how about this? You help me get inside to Cipher, and leave immediately when I'm there for your safety's sake, sound fair enough?"_

"_It's a deal!" Rui grinned. "I'll wait for a few more minutes."_

_The bike indeed made it to the Cipher key lair in minutes. Wes sped it to the centre of the massive disc that served as the entrance to the lair. Rui found it disgusting that the lab was surrounded by what she found was toxic material (_Yuck…)_._

_Wes switched off his bike, parked it at the foot of the extremely long staircase that led up to the pyramid-shaped lab. It looked sinister, combined with the dark skies. He helped Rui off his bike._

"_Rui!" Wes whispered. "Not yet. When I've set off their systems, we're going to climb our way in. There's no use in using the front door, there's no time."_

_Rui nodded and followed Wes' lead. The twosome snuck upstairs, but to their surprise the entire outside was deserted. Knowing that there might be some sort of security measure Cipher set up, Wes sent out Espeon to act as a makeshift ladder by using her Psychic attack. The next thing he did was sending out Umbreon to breach Cipher's security frame near the front door._

"_Their shields are down," Rui indicated. "We're clear to enter."_

_Wes nodded. He shouted, "Espeon! Psychic!"_

_His Pokémon obeyed without question. Espeon's eyes glowed and Wes and Rui were airlifted onto the walls of the lab. When Wes managed to get a grip on the wall's edge, Umbreon was brought up to Wes' level. Afterwards, Umbreon smashed a part of the wall leaving an entry window just big enough for Wes and Rui to slip into._

"_Espeon, Psychic up my briefcase, too!" Wes called downward. Espeon rocketed Wes' metal case to the level. Wes grabbed it and quickly made his move, with Rui to follow him through the dark corridors of the Cipher lab._

_But at one point, Umbreon growled at the shadows. The twosome turned quickly to encounter whatever might be there. But the sound was just a few Cipher Peons. Still, Wes considered them to be a hazard to his mission. He ordered his Umbreon to stand down, and then he rushed to tackle the Peons._

"_Mmph!" the Peons grunted. Wes knew he had to act fast. He snuck his way through the halls while Rui went to watch for any oncoming Peons. Minutes later, Wes prepared to enter an elevator to the bottommost part of the Cipher lab._

"_Rui, this is where we say good-bye for now," Wes said to her. "When I'm done, I'll meet you in Agate Village. We can relax then. But… stay safe, always."_

_Rui went up to Wes and, after a small hesitation, kissed him on the cheek._

"_Bye, Wes! Hope to see to again soon!" Rui sentimentally smiled and turned her back on him. As the elevator descended, Wes saw her disappear from his sight. He knew she would be safe._

_While going down, Wes took a little time to think what he was going to do…_

* * *

Mars stared at Wes, face expressed with anticipation.

"Okay…? So what happened later? It just doesn't make sense that just some simple mission could have led to your banishment."

"It certainly wasn't easy," Wes corrected her. "And while I was in there for the next two minutes, I began to understand how to build dreams. I created my own layout when I reached the bottom. Fortunately for me, the Cipher Peons were all beginning to take their time to rest. When I arrived, I tackled the Cipher remnants and took out my briefcase."

Mars looked outside at the gloomy dark skies to take a break from what she was hearing, but it didn't make her feel any better. She turned to Wes and nodded for him to keep talking.

"I knew that the Peons would come to check on their leaders at some point. You know that the brain has quicker function once you're dreaming, right? Well, I adjusted the timer to give me just twenty minutes of sleep. That gave me two hours in the dream. But since two hours wasn't enough, I continued to keep dreaming into a deeper sleep without keeping track of time…"

* * *

_Wes stood over the unconscious Cipher leaders. He quickly went to open his briefcase, took out the needles, and punctured them into each wrist of Cipher. Wes punctured his own, lay on the floor, and pressed the button to get to sleep…_

* * *

_He knew he only had two hours, but wherever Wes went he couldn't find the secrets he had hoped to find, and so he captured the Cipher leaders on his own and went deeper in to the dream._

_The one thing Wes had hoped for was if he went deep enough, he would extract the secrets Cipher had held. The problem was that Wes couldn't determine how deep was 'deep enough'…_

"_Tell me…" Wes smoothly talked to his subconscious. "What are you hiding?"_

_The subconscious he was talking to, otherwise he knew as Cipher, started talking away. But for Wes, it just wasn't enough to satisfy him, so he took the Cipher leaders to dream even deeper._

_There were even times where Wes would be attacked by the subconscious of his targets. Those of Cipher who got killed by them… Wes didn't bother with them and kept going deeper._

_Wes kept dreaming on for so long, that –_

"_Oof!" Wes was struck down on the solid pavement._

_He was surrounded by an army of Entei and Moltres. Cipher had managed to pin Wes down just as soon as he entered the dream._

"_Just exactly what are you doing, trying to take a crack at us again?!" Cipher jeered. "You're not here to try to destroy us, are you?"_

"_You are…" Wes breathed. "Correct."_

_This only angered Cipher even more. "Moltres!" one of them shouted. "AIR SLASH!"_

_The bird Pokémon readied its attack, flew into the air, and brought upon its wing on Wes' chest. Stunned, Wes collapsed to the ground, blood leaking out of his chest and nose._

"_Finish it, Moltres," another Cipher said. "Heat Wave."_

"_Don't do it…" Wes struggled to say. "I – we might not be able to survive..."_

_Cipher took no notice of Wes' words and Moltres swung its fierce wings, preparing a final and deadly attack._

* * *

"You can't die in a dream," Mars pointed out. "So how _could_ you have ended up in limbo?"

"I never took notice of how deep I was going," Wes said. "I just kept going deeper until on that level they finally caught up to me. It just so happened that they killed me in my own dream…"

Mars clamped a hand over her mouth in fear. "The dream collapsed, then? But – but how did _that_ put you into limbo? You could've just waked up, right?"

"That was a problem," Wes held his breath and kept talking. "We dreamed for so long and so deeply without dying… it was so bad that when we woke up on the above level we lost sight at what was real. We couldn't keep track of anything… I supposed one of Cipher's minds were fried when they got killed in the collapsing dream."

"I saw them die," he continued. "And that was when I ended up on the shores of my subconscious and my imagination, which was practically limbo…"

* * *

_He felt water splash on his face. Wes opened his eyes and found himself facing a deeply gray world. When he managed to get the strength to get up, he saw… nothing but emptiness._

Now what?_ Wes thought. It didn't help him that he was in reality or not. The only thing that mattered now was how to get out of this wretched place._

_He walked hastily into the gray world, which Wes interpreted it as an abandoned city, with several beaches near the outskirts and many houses in there which to Wes seemed out of place._

_But what Wes could do… he discovered he could keep building more of this world. All he needed was to imagine what would happen to one place, and it would happen._

_Wes created lots of Battle Colosseums that were beyond anything he could have imagined too, but all these things were made _because_ of his imagination. How did that work?_

"_Okay… let's battle!" Wes declared._

_In front of him were the some remnants of Cipher. Wes took out his Espeon and Umbreon and engaged a fierce battle without care._

* * *

"The problem," Wes said to Mars. "Was that I somehow knew that none of it was real. All those Colosseums; the battles with Cipher; it just didn't come together. I battled and battled… for something like five years because I had nothing to do…"

"So how did you get out?" Mars asked.

"It happened on what I think was the most frightening moment in my life."

* * *

_After so many battles, Wes rested. A projection of Rui had appeared right beside him instantly. Wes jumped in sheer surprise._

"_Rui! What – how – WHAT are you doing here?" Wes exclaimed. "You aren't… real?"_

"_No, I'm not," Rui grinned. "But I'm sure you won't mind if I stick around in your head for a bit, right? Please, Wes?"_

"_You could if you can help me get out of here," Wes said grimly, but was gratified. "I'm seriously not enjoying my time here."_

_Rui took his hand. "Let's walk!"_

_They walked for a time through the gray streets. Wes found it uncomfortable and highly unsettling that there was nothing particularly interesting to see. Rui on the other hand was as cheerful as Wes had remembered her. Still, Wes could tell Rui looked uncomfortable._

"_I'll protect you if Cipher chooses to attack," Wes said to Rui. "I promise."_

_Rui nodded._

* * *

_A long time had passed when Wes and Rui continued to tour the empty grey streets. Wes had successfully kept away many Cipher agents who had tried to ambush them._

_When the two of them turned a sharp corner, they stopped dead._

_Across the street was Cipher, accompanied by every Shadow Pokémon Wes had tried so hard to capture. No, they couldn't be out for revenge now. But there they were, including the Tyranitar from Cipher's leader._

"_SHADOW RUSH!" all the Cipher leaders shouted._

_Wes grabbed Rui and turned back to run away, but as they moved the Tyranitar hit Rui on the back, followed by a Metagross and an Absol._

_Rui spit out a burst of blood from her mouth and fell face first onto the pavement, which caused Wes to stop and attend to her without another word._

"_Stop," the Cipher leaders said coolly, and their Pokémon ceased their attacks and retreated._

_Wes fell on his knees and looked at his best friend, who looked like she was suffocating, and she was going to die; plain and simple._

"_Rui…" Wes for the first time felt tears dripping down his face._

"_Well… I did enjoy our time together…" Rui, who although was bleeding, still said with a smile. "D – Don't – don't worry, Wes. I'll b – be fine. Just try to stay alive, will –"_

_She held out her hand, Wes took it._

"_I'll stay with – with you, Wes," Rui said, but it was getting more painful for Wes to watch. "When you finally get back to A – Agate, we'll be fine. I promise."_

_Wes nodded and was about to respond when Rui's hand fell away from Wes._

"_RUI!" Wes yelled. His grief had overwhelmed him, and he turned to face his Cipher hostiles._

"_You've done enough damage already," he said through tears. "Forget her, kill me."_

_A Cipher head smirked. "We've already taken pleasure in damaging you in the best way possible. There's no point in taking pleasure to kill you."_

_Wes shook his head in despair as Cipher left the streets one by one._

* * *

_After a while, Wes still couldn't shake off what he had seen. _The death of his best friend: _why did he have to see it?_

_Cipher had chosen to leave him alone, but it didn't make Wes feel any better._

Is there any point in living any longer?_ Wes thought to himself. He held Rui's limp body in his hands. She was dead._

"_I've failed you, Rui. I couldn't keep our promise, I said I would protect you!" Wes wept._

_Wes didn't keep track of time after that. After what felt like an hour, a blinding flash of light came from across the buildings. Even though it was far away, Wes could tell where it was coming from. Out of curiosity and self-obligation, Wes let go of Rui and walked toward the light._

_He never looked back._

* * *

_The road stretched on and on, when Wes finally made it to the light he saw one of his created Colosseums, the largest one of all, in sight. He walked into the Colosseum to face the light._

_In the centre of the stadium, Wes could make out two figures. A Pokémon and… another human._

_Wes was still quite depressed from seeing Rui's casualty, but he tried to gather his energy to approach the human._

"_Hello, you must be Wes."_

_Wes stopped to look. The human was unquestionably dressed in a suit. In his hand was… a handgun. Wes smiled humourlessly and waited._

"_Wes, my name is Mr. Cobb. I'm a specialist in the field of extraction like you. In fact, I am the most skilled extractor out there," he said. "I can see you've got yourself into a heap of trouble, putting yourself in this place."_

"_So what are you going to do?" Wes said. "Shoot me in the head? I'm sure that's enough to put me out of my misery."_

_Cobb smiled. "No, no. I've got something better for you; my friend Mew here and I have come up with a way for you to get out of here. You don't need to stay here forever."_

_It was a bit much for Wes when he heard this. First, he had to take in that this Cobb was an extractor, and the next thing he had come into contact with Mew._

_Wes staggered. "How did you get here? You're not a projection, are you?"_

"_Mew and I just happened to be on an extraction project. I was in another dream but somehow your subconscious has interfered with it, so I'm here to investigate."_

"_H – How are you going to get me out of here?" Wes asked. "And… how do you know whether I'm alive or not? Let alone yourself."_

_Cobb pulled out a small top._

"_This is a totem, it's what I use to keep track of reality."_

"_How does it work? Anything special?" Wes eyed the top suspiciously._

"_I can assure you, Wes, there's something special about it. It's just that only I can know how it works. Mew: give Wes the gift," Cobb ordered._

_The legendary Pokémon warped in a book. But to Wes, it looked more than just a book; it looked as if it were made of glass._

"_This is called a GridBook," Cobb explained. "I figure it'd be something just as useful as a totem and more. For a start, turn to the page with the square grid."_

_Wes obeyed. He found the solid page near the end of the book, turned to it and laid it on the Colosseum's ground._

"_Here's another gift for you," Cobb said. "You'll have a very good use for it, I'm sure."_

_Mew warped in a small metal block. Cobb delicately took it and gave it to Wes._

"_Forge something out of this, and make it do something unique on the grid. Don't ask me for directions from this point, Wes. You have everything you need."_

_Wes nodded. He went into a separate room of the Colosseum to forge something for his GridBook._

* * *

"_Is this meant to be a totem, Mr. Cobb?" Wes presented his work._

_Cobb looked at it. It was a metal jack, the sort used for games. Cobb had no idea what Wes would have use of it for, but he assumed it was what Wes would have wanted._

"_You got it. Now, it should do something special on its own on the grid. I'll leave it to you to work it out," Cobb said._

_Wes took his GridBook away from Cobb, walked away from him and after a minute of hesitation and consideration, placed his jack on the centre square and spun it._

_The jack kept on spinning, and Wes knew what it meant._

"_Okay, Mr. Cobb," Wes returned to him. "Enough about my totem; how am I supposed to get out of this place? And what is this place, exactly?"_

_Cobb looked around miserably. "This place… is nothing. Reality doesn't matter to you anymore here, because this place _is_ your reality; the real world won't be enough for you here."_

_Wes waited patiently for Cobb to continue, which he did._

* * *

Mars looked at Wes impatiently.

"You still haven't told me _how_ you got out of limbo. Okay, I get the idea that you met this Cobb character and Mew; but… how'd they get the idea of a GridBook?"

Wes shrugged. "I suppose they were the first ones to invent it."

* * *

_The world of limbo enshrouded Wes like a dense mist. But Wes clung onto the one hope he had; his GridBook. After several hours; Wes figured out how to work the GridBook properly on his own._

"_Anyway, there is a way for you to get out of here," said Cobb. "Give me your GridBook."_

_Wes gave it to him, and Cobb gave a thorough warning._

"_Now, since we're in limbo as we speak; I've installed a special device in here… in the GridBook."_

_He turned the back of the book; there was a standard back cover on it. But what surprised Wes was that Cobb split the page in half to reveal a thin white grid._

"_There's space for a fingerprint in the middle," Cobb explained. "Once it's been used; anyone sharing the dream can instantly wake back into the dream level right above, regardless of the situation. But there's a catch: once you've used it; you'll end up in limbo and dream forever. Be sure to know when to use it_ wisely._"_

_Wes nodded. "So can I use it right now?"_

"_I'm going to do it," Cobb said and reached for the grid. "But from this point on the space will recognise only _your_ fingerprint. And I should warn you; this white grid is one of a kind. So keep it secret from whoever, okay? Good-bye, Wes."_

"_Wait! How are you going to get out?" Wes seized his hand._

"_I have my ways, Wes. Mew will be helping me too. Besides, I've done it before."_

_Wes released his hand._

_Cobb pressed his finger into the white grid and Wes felt everything fall…_

* * *

"And that's how I got out of limbo," Wes said.

Mars had her mouth wide open from what she had heard. But she still had one last question.

"What did Cipher do to banish you?"

Wes shook his head.

"When Espeon, Umbreon, and I woke up we knew something was wrong when we looked at Cipher…"

* * *

_Wes woke up._

_He wasn't surprised to see Cipher in front of him, although he noticed and could tell that one of them looked completely lifeless._

"_You killed him!" a Cipher leader shouted. "You're going to pay for this!"_

_Wes looked at the other Cipher leader more closely._

"_He's not dead," Wes assured them. "He just can't tell the diff –"_

"_And you thought revenge wasn't enough… just wait until we can throw a bit of propaganda around with this!"_

_Wes murmured. "Espeon! Psybeam!"_

_Wes' Pokémon blasted a way for him to escape. Smashing his way to where he broke in initially; he jumped out and slid to the ground._

"_Go, go, go!" Wes urged his Pokémon to run as they landed cleanly on the ground. They ran past the grounds and out into the Orre desert._

_In the first place; Wes wanted to go straight to Agate to see Rui, but he didn't have his bike. Still, he had a strong desire to see Rui again. She was, after all, the only person he trusted._

* * *

_But Wes was met by the most unexpected company when he approached the vicinity of Agate Village. There were two Cipher Peons waiting for him at the bridge._

"_Come to show your revenge again? Face it, it's over," Wes pushed his way past them._

"_Wes, if you're going to meet your girlfriend now, you might want to think twice before seeing her," the Peon tapped his foot._

_Wes stopped. "Okay, I'll bite. What's the catch?"_

_The Peon smiled evilly. "We've broadcasted through the Orre network and ONBS throughout the entire region that you're a mass murderer. We've recorded how you've killed an innocent leader and several other people, which really were the other Peons."_

"_Lies!" Wes clenched his fist. "So why don't I just tell the police –"_

"_Don't bother," the Peon cut in. "There's already a region-wide warrant for your arrest. You're a criminal, Wes, just like you should be."_

_Wes was troubled. But there was one more space for doubt. "Why are you telling me this?"_

_The Peon smirked. "Because our leaders and heads are offering you a last chance: leave Orre and don't ever come back. If you do, Orre will come and arrest you, you hear me? You have to leave for Gateon Port, right now. We've got a ship ready to go to the Sinnoh region."_

_Wes looked at the Peon with a defeated expression. "Fine, let's go."_

* * *

_The ship's horn blew as Wes looked out the window to see his home region one last time. How could he explain this to Rui? He took out his PDA._

Rui, I'm leaving on a business trip and I can't say how long I'm going to be gone for. Sorry I hadn't told you earlier.

_After a few minutes, Rui replied._

It's okay, Wes. Let me know when you're finished your job. I'll be waiting!

_Wes smiled briefly and went to sleep._

* * *

_Wes found himself in a forest when he dreamed, and while he was there he met…_

"_Rui!" Wes called to her._

"_Oh, hi Wes!" she called back and ran to him._

"_So…" she started. "I hear you're leaving Orre… away from me, right?"_

_Wes was slightly confused upon hearing this, but he put it together._

"_You got it."_

_Rui grinned. "Okay! Now Wes… listen: I'm just a projection, right? But I can do much more! I can help you when you're operating in the dream!"_

"_But can you help me get back home?" Wes asked._

"_Of course! That's why I'm in your dream! When the time comes that you can go back to Orre, my work will be complete. I'll give you one warning though; Cipher will be around in every dream trying to get you. Try not to get caught by them, okay?"_

_Now it was Wes' turn to grin. "Thank you… Rui. You are a true friend."_

_Wes' consciousness started to regain control of itself._


	14. Breakout!

**Here's a chapter in commemoration of the new year. The story is inspired by Christopher Nolan's "Inception", and I don't own it.**

* * *

_**Chapter fourteen**_

"When I woke up from the dream, I found that I had a real GridBook with me right in my coat," Wes said. "I couldn't tell if I really _was_ dreaming or not."

He showed his GridBook to Mars. "It left me to wonder; is this reality? Or perhaps that I'm still dreaming? After all, I got this thing straight from the dream. Reality was, and still is confusing me."

"About your GridBook…" Mars began. "What was it you said was in there that got you out of limbo? How come none of us has one? And why didn't you tell Kellyn or Lunick about it? They never told me… and Steven's never even told me about something to get out of limbo…"

Wes opened his GridBook to the hidden page, appearing white. "This page is a weapon of last resort. It – destroys the dream instantly and sends everyone out of the dream, except for me."

Mars looked at Wes in disbelief. "What happens to you, then?"

Wes stiffened. "I stay in limbo forever, plain and simple."

"_Plain and simple?!_" Mars whispered harshly. "Come on! _You_, of all people, wouldn't want to end up in limbo again, would you? That's ridiculous!"

"But at least I can save more lives than just one," Wes cut in.

Mars took this into thought, and said, "So when do or did you need to use it?"

Wes flatly said. "Hopefully, never. But from that day on I've been trying to find a way for myself to get a way back to Orre ever since. That – projection of Rui… I knew it was something unique."

Mars' tone changed so that it was evident that she was switching to a more serious matter.

"I can understand though, that Cipher is breaking into your subconscious as we speak. You might think you have it under control, but you know already that you can't control your subconscious. As we go deeper into this dream… we're going deeper into your memories. This includes Cipher, doesn't it?"

Wes stiffly nodded. "Figured it out, haven't you?"

Mars flashed a humourless smile. "I'm sure that what we find underneath isn't going to be pretty. Cipher will try to gun us down thanks to you."

Wes shrugged.

He turned his attention to Cyrus, who coughed and choked in front of them with effort. To Mars and Wes, it was painful to watch.

"How's he doing?"

"The poison… it's going to get to him eventually," Mars said. "If we keep this up, he'll die anyway. We have at least given him some means of curing him."

"If we go deeper into the second level he'll sustain far much better down there," Wes said with a sense of approval. "The poison won't get to him that easily."

"But what if he dies?"

Wes stared off in thought. "Then… when he wakes up he won't have any sense of himself anymore. He'll be worse than dead."

"_Wes… I still honour the agreement._"

He stared at Cyrus, who managed to weakly speak out the words. But Wes had other plans.

"Thank you, Mr. Cyrus. But I sincerely apologise that when you wake up that agreement will be long gone. You're going to enter limbo, and it'll become your reality! This is the realm of the unknown, and you're going to walk in there for so long…"

Something stirred in Cyrus' memory, and he finally remembered; it was when he had proposed his arrangement with Wes.

He turned his head to face Wes. "_Or would you rather run away…?_"

Wes nodded slowly as he remembered this conversation a while back. "Mourning for life to see my best friend just once more, yeah."

"_No…_" Cyrus whispered. "_Don't worry about me. Everything will be fine. I'll come back to make sure – our arrangement will be honoured at last._"

Wes took that as the last words Cyrus could manage. Worse yet; he could notice movement from outside the mall.

"Hey, Wes!" said a familiar voice.

A girl with red hair appeared at the doorway. It was Rui.

"Oh, hey…" Wes said slowly. "Rui."

Rui shifted her gaze at Mars. "Hi Mars! Nice to see you again!"

"You too, Rui," Mars replied. "But why are you here?"

Rui's smile faded a bit and was replaced with a scowl. "The subconscious is closing in to this place. If you don't act fast… it'll be over. Just look outside."

Wes looked outside to the movement in the dark streets.

They were Cipher Peons; each armed with a deadly Shadow Pokémon.

He got up and, without looking at Mars, said, "We need to go."

* * *

The door burst open with a loud BANG. The room was, with the exception of the light coming from the door, still nearly pitch black. Lucian shut his eyes tightly as he could hear mysterious figures approach him.

"Half an hour's up," said the figure with the Snag Machine on his arm. "Where are those contract papers of yours?! The ones turning over HSBC to the Plasma Company?"

"I keep telling you I don't know!" Lucian protested. "I can't remember that quickly where I put those papers, or I might have even given it to the Plasma Company already! I need more time!"

"We don't HAVE time!" said the figure. "Forget it. You're coming with us."

The first thing Lucian saw was that one figure, a teenager with azure-like coloured hair, place a bag over Wallace and took him away. The next thing Lucian saw was instant darkness. He swallowed; a bag had been placed over his head too.

Wes pushed the bagged Lucian and 'Wallace' outside the room and turned them to Barry and Kellyn. After that, he turned to Cynthia and Steven, saying, "You know what you have to do later."

Steven nodded automatically and sent out his Metagross. Cynthia brought out her Garchomp without even realising what was going on. Kellyn on the other hand went up to Wes.

"We have to move now. They're closing in to a dangerous point."

"Well then!" Wes scoffed. "Looks like we'll have to fight our way out. Load them into the tank-bus as quickly as possible. And don't forget Cyrus!"

Kellyn and Barry pushed Lucian and Wallace down two sets of stairs into another of the massive white rooms which held the black armoured tank-bus. The mall doors in front of them, in spite of being welded together, looked as if it was meant to be destructible.

"It is," Roark said to Steven. "We've planned this ahead of time. All you and Cynthia need to do is to charge through that wall and we're on the move."

"All right," Steven said. "I'll get the bus ready. Cynthia;" he turned his head to her. "You'll do the combatting, alright?"

"Not a problem, Steven…" Cynthia answered dreamily. "Just let me know when."

They, including Roark, had finally noticed that Kellyn and Barry had arrived, followed by Pachirisu, Grotle, and Kirlia.

"Load Lucian and Wallace here," Kellyn quietly instructed them. "Put Lucian to sleep."

Lucian was the first to be put into the tank-bus. Lunick took out a drop of anesthetic and dropped it on top of Lucian's head. In moments, Lucian fell asleep. That primed the moment for Wallace to come out of the tank-bus. When he pulled off the bag, he was Barry again.

"How's the reaction?" Wes asked shortly.

"I've managed to give him the idea, but he's extremely convinced that the Plasma Company is for the good. Although I think he understands that the people use the bank _because_ of him, which is good. But the bottom line is; his reaction to the public is much worse than anticipated. I tried to convince him, but what I got was more reasons from the Plasma Company."

"And how's that supposed to help?" Lunick said as he helped his Minun into the tank-bus.

"His mind is trying to seal off the possibilities," Wes answered. "If he's so convinced by the Plasma Company; this will prove more useful when we expose the truth to Lucian. And therefore he'll be bound to understand much more effectively."

"And just how are we going to do that?" Lunick doubtfully asked.

"I'll just need to slightly alter the plan a bit," Wes said. "With the projections on our heels, and Cyrus poisoned, we can just make it when Steven drives the tank-bus off the cliff."

"Hurry up," Kellyn said, more urgency in his voice. "We've got to break out of this place before the projections completely shut us in. Grotle! Kirlia! Over here!"

His Pokémon followed him to one side of the wall. At the same time Wes and Roark helped the struggling Cyrus into the tank-bus as well. Mars was already waiting inside the vehicle. Steven had decided to add a little extra firepower to Kellyn before boarding the tank-bus's wheel.

"Cynthia! Help them out, too!" Steven ordered.

As Cynthia, her Garchomp, and Metagross approached Kellyn, Grotle had tackled the wall and crushed a large part of the wall, leaving space for attacking. From Kellyn's surveillance; several Blastoise and many Cipher Peons were stationed down in the streets right outside.

Cynthia made the initiative by hurtling a Draco Meteor attack on the streets and followed up with an Earthquake attack to send the Blastoise into a crumpled heap.

"Okay, I'm done!" Cynthia said brightly. "I've got to help Steven with the tank-bus!"

Kellyn was about to protest but was too late, Cynthia had recalled both Pokémon into their Poké Balls and quickly ran to board the machine. So instead he continued to bombard the Blastoise below with leaves from Grotle.

They momentarily damaged the Blastoise, but that didn't stop them from loading their cannons and firing away Hydro Pump blasts.

"Argh!" Kellyn dropped to the ground, stuck out his right arm with the Vatonage Fine Styler, and shouted, "Capture on!"

He could barely aim the Capture Disc, but using Pachirisu's assistance to electrify his Styler he was able to shock the Pokémon outside to exhaustion. But it was too easy, and the Blastoise knocked away his Capture Disc, and consequently the Disc returned to Kellyn's Styler.

"Hah…" Kellyn breathed. "How am I supposed to capture them…?"

The Pokémon Ranger kept moving to avoid more of the Hydro Pump blasts, in which many of them had blasted a large chunk of the wall away leaving another opening. The bigger problem now was that Pokémon were coming from all directions. They were mainly Blastoise and, to Kellyn's dismay, multiple numbers of Suicune and teams of Peons.

"Kirlia! Psychic!" Kellyn ordered and this sent another Blastoise flying. But this was still not enough to get rid of all the Blastoise out there, let alone the Suicune.

"Grass Knot!" Kellyn said with frustration. Why did this have to be so hard?

But the Suicune dodged it too easily.

It was then Barry had walked to Kellyn's side, with his Torterra beside him. Kellyn looked at Barry to see what he was going to do, and Barry simply said.

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, my friend."

On cue, Torterra unleashed the ultimate Frenzy Plant attack which wiped out the near majority of Pokémon out there, along with the Cipher Peons that accompanied them, and those that survived the attack were simply tossed aside by a vicious Leaf Storm from Torterra. This resulted with a destructive scene with Pokémon and leaves scattered around.

"There we go!" Barry said cheerfully and retreated back to the bus. Kellyn shrugged and followed Barry to the tank-bus, where Lunick was waiting with the door open to help Kellyn with loading Grotle into the vehicle.

* * *

"Everyone ready?" Steven called back to his companions. "Okay… ready to roll out!"

The tank-bus started with a roar and burst out of the mall. The Pokémon outside were already hurling whatever attack they could manage at the tank-bus, but the machine was just too resilient to their attacks, and they bounced off.

"Okay, now. We need to switch his preference from the Plasma Company to HSBC in the next level," Wes said.

"How's that supposed to end up?" Mars inquired.

"We need to eventually reveal his joy in controlling the bank whilst exposing the destabilised nature of the Plasma Company."

Wes also had the metallic briefcase in hand containing the sedative and pulled out the needles. "Okay: take a needle now. Don't forget your Pokémon too, Rangers."

They, without needing to say anything took out the needles and attached them to their wrists. Mars had to assist with attaching Cyrus' needle to him to finish it and the Rangers stuck the additional needles to their Partner Pokémon. Finally, the Trainers put their Poké Balls into the case and Wes gave it to Cynthia.

Now the extractor turned to address the team.

"There's going to be kill teams looking all over for us once we're down there. Roark, have you figured out what we're going to do?"

Roark scoffed. "Yeah, Lunick will help me with the kick down there. You can use the location to stage another post for HSBC. Mars and I have taken the liberty to include a jet down there; we'll use it for the kick."

The tank-bus drifted silently through the dark streets and kept its best to avoid detection from the Pokémon outside on the streets.

"We run with the Visitor's Gambit next, it'll be easier for us," Wes ordered.

Mars blinked. "What is it?"

"It's a manoeuvre we used to get a subject to treat the extractor as if it were part of his subconscious," Kellyn said. "If it works this time, Lucian will completely accept Wes' terms to help him find the 'answers' he's looking for in the Plasma Company. If not…"

"His subconscious will destroy us," Lunick finished for him.

"So yeah…" Wes took his opportunity to speak again. "We don't have a choice. If there was any alternative, it'll only slow us down. Barry, can you give Lucian and his security a distraction while we're there?"

"Sure, Wes. I'll think of something as soon as we're there," Barry replied.

The tank-bus slid into the night super easily as if it was in stealth. If there wasn't any Fire Pokémon around (which there was) they would have been invisible.

"Okay, Cynthia," Lunick warned. "You're Steven's co-driver. Tell him not to jump too soon, or else we're not going to make the kick."

"I can HEAR you!" Steven called out. "Don't worry. I'll get Cynthia to warn you and Roark with the music right before the kick starts. You're on your own after that."

The tank-bus turned onto a straight. Cynthia laid her fingers on the button.

"Ready guys?"

"Go!" Lunick shouted.

Cynthia hit the button.

Mars never liked the feeling of the sedative going into her head, but it was too bad she had to experience it anyway. Soon, she and the rest of the team fell asleep to dream within a dream.


End file.
